Pregame notes: White Sox add José Urquidy and Tyler Schweitzer, claim Jake Rogers

The White Sox are taking a bullpen game to a gunfight as they open a three-games series against the second-place Tigers at Comerica Park tonight, but at least they've added some reinforcements to give Will Venable more of his patented pathways to victory.

The Sox recalled right-handed José Urquidy and lefty Tyler Schweitzer to provide a pair of long-relief options to a bullpen that had to cover seven innings on Thursday after Davis Martin's ejection. In order to make room on the 26-man roster, they placed Martin on the 15-day injured list with a blister on his right middle finger, and optioned Tanner McDougal to Charlotte.

Urquidy joined the White Sox via a trade with the Pirates back on July 26. He'd signed a major league contract with Pittsburgh and opened the season in its bullpen, but after early struggles, he accepted an assignment to the minors with hopes of stretching back out to starting, a role in which he'd enjoyed success for the Astros earlier this decade until shoulder and elbow problems interfered.

The gambit ultimately paid off. Urquidy eventually rediscovered an effective form at Triple-A Indianapolis, and while it wasn't enough to crack a deep Pirates rotation, it garnered interest from the White Sox, who acquired him for 21-year-old ACL righty Felix Doroteo the week before the trade deadline after Pittsburgh designated Urquidy for assignment.

Urquidy's success transferred smoothly to Charlotte, and as a result, he has a 2.35 ERA and a .191/.243/.304 line against him over his last 65 innings and 13 starts. The stuff doesn't overwhelm, but talking to Urquidy after his Charlotte debut in Nashville late last month, he credited his success to a widening of his arsenal and an emphasis on tunneling, which introduced a sinker to his repertoire and revitalized his sweeper.

He only pitched two innings against Durham in his most recent appearance on Sunday, which signaled an interest in keeping his arm fresh if need arose. Another short start from Martin created such circumstances. Martin gave up four runs over two-plus innings, with his start coming to an abrupt ending when his beaning of Sal Stewart leading off the third inning resulted in an ejection.

The blister is a documented issue, in the sense that Martin said it popped on him after the second inning, and blamed it for the loss of control that resulted in two consecutive fastballs at Stewart's head. Martin's postgame comments indicated that the blister wouldn't be IL-worthy on its own, but given that he now has an 8.16 ERA over his last eight starts, it gave the White Sox a non-phantom injury for shelving him, with the hope that rest revitalizes him over the final month.

The other pair of pitchers involved in the day's first four roster moves requires less explanation. Schweitzer is back with the hopes of building on an effective body of major league long relief this season (2.78 ERA over 11 games and 22 ⅔ innings), and he takes the place of McDougal, who faced five batters in his MLB debut on Thursday and only retired the first of them. He walked the next three and plunked the last, and finished throwing just eight of his 25 pitches for strikes.

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The White Sox made a fifth roster move two hours later by claiming catcher Jake Rogers off waivers from Boston. The White Sox made room on the 40-man roster by designating Joe Rock for assignment, but he hasn't yet been activated to force a corresponding move on the 26-man roster.

Rogers, 31, spent his first five seasons in the majors as a backup catcher in Detroit, but his sixth season has seen him travel from the Tigers to the Orioles to the Red Sox to now the White Sox. He's hit .183/.290/.327 over 125 plate appearances along the way, and while he's historically been an above-average defensive catcher, Statcast has his receiving, blocking and throwing all at varying degrees of middling this season.

The frequently mustachioed Rogers was a popular figure in the Tigers clubhouse, and the Detroit Free Press has Kevin McGonigle calling the prospect of seeing Rogers in a White Sox uniform "weird." However, various Tigers personnel downplayed the impact he could make in terms of relaying intelligence.

"They know that we have scouting reports on everybody," said Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson. "I don't think there's much."

Hinch also didn't seem worried about any potential organizational secrets Rogers could share that could give the White Sox an advantage.

"I don't think there's a lot of secrets in the league," Hinch said. "It's going to be more keeping the banter at a minimum when he comes to the plate."

The White Sox will likely have to move a catcher from the 26-man roster in order to accommodate Rogers. Drew Romo gets the start tonight, if that gives any initial clues.

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First Pitch: White Sox at Tigers

Time: 5:40 p.m. CT

TV: CHSN

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