Burke and Cannon Steady the Ship in Back-to-Back Wins

After a week-long opener strategy, the White Sox starting rotation was eager to show they belonged as traditional starters. But for the second night in a row, it looked like the White Sox starters were headed for another short outing.

On Thursday, Sean Burke loaded the bases in the first inning after throwing just five of his first 17 pitches for strikes before hanging a 0-2 breaking ball to Rhys Hoskins that looked destined to be a grand slam. On Friday, Jonathan had to navigate through traffic in the first two innings, with the first two Astros batters of the second reaching on a single and a Miguel Vargas throwing error. 

But each pitcher showed tremendous poise on the mound and limited the damage en route to back-to-back White Sox victories 

Burke got a bit of help from his defense, with Luis Robert making a leaping grab at the wall to rob Hoskins and the Brewers of a grand slam on Thursday. 

“I owe Luis something. I don’t know what I owe him. He’s got a lot more money than I do, but I owe him something,” Burke joked after Thursday’s game. 

Thank you Panther https://t.co/IrL0nlqzSY

— Sean Burke (@TopShelfBurkey) May 1, 2025

Following the first inning scare, the 25-year-old went into cruise control, throwing six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, three walks, and striking out five to lower his ERA to 4.91 on the season. 

Cannon worked around the traffic by striking out Yanier Diaz on three straight pitches for the first out of the inning. He then got Brendan Rogers to ground into what looked like an inning-ending double play before Lenyn Sosa dropped the ball at second base to load the bases. 

But the 24-year-old right-hander managed to escape the inning unscathed, surviving a six-pitch battle with Cam Smith that ended in a lineout to second, then inducing Jake Myers to ground into a force out at second.

But Cannon’s high-wire act wasn’t over yet. In the fifth inning, the Astros put the first two men on with the heart of Houston’s lineup due up, but he managed to retire José Altuve, Yordan Álvarez, and Isaac Paredes in order. 

It was one of Cannon’s most impressive outings of the season. He struck out five and did not issue a walk, something that has hindered his ability to work deep into games early in the season. Cannon finished the game with a quality start after throwing six innings of two-run ball, despite allowing nine hits on the evening. 

Cannon appears to have turned the corner. In his last three outings, he has thrown a combined 19.2 innings, allowing nine earned runs with 14 strikeouts. It’s a huge boost for a bullpen that has needed innings eaters and has helped the White Sox start a two-game winning streak.