Blue Jays 8, White Sox 4: A Mike Pelfrey start

Until the White Sox call up one or more of their pitching prospects to take starts from veterans who don’t have much to show, this is likely to be the best outcome — a loss, but with points of interest along the way.

Mike Pelfrey gave the Sox more innings than he had since the middle of June, but it came at a cost. He gave up a tie-breaking homer to Justin Smoak on a grooved two-seamer in the fifth inning, then watched Gregory Infante allow both of his inherited runners to score in the sixth. Just like that, a 2-2 game turned into a 7-2 game, leaving fans to settle for points of interest such as:

*A kerfuffle between Tim Anderson and Marcus Stroman: Stroman has been messing around with windups of varying pace, including some with a total stop in the middle. Yolmer Sanchez got a late time call on two such windups after a quick pitch in the first inning, and so did Anderson in the seventh before striking out. Anderson glared at Stroman while leaving the field, and Stroman couldn’t let the glare go without words.

*Nicky Delmonico’s debut: Joining the club because Willy Garcia went on the seven-day disabled list with a concussion, Delmonico struck out on three pitches in his first at-bat, but came back to score his first run and notch his first hit. He wasn’t tested in left aside from a throw home, and he doesn’t have Melky Cabrera’s arm.

*Another lump: Adam Engel and Yoan Moncada were already out this game after collidng with the wall and Garcia, respectively. Matt Davidson left this one early after taking a Stroman fastball to the forearm. Convenient to this discussion, the HBP occurred on one of Stroman’s start-stop deliveries.

Kevan Smith replaced him the next time up and hit his second homer of the season.

*Tyler Saladino showing up: He went 2-for-3 with a walk out of the sixth spot, and he started a 5-4-3 double play. He’s going to need more of those games to become relevant as the White Sox sift through bench options.

*Alen Hanson with a rob job: His defense in the outfield has been adventuresome, but he was able to track Jose Bautista’s high fly to right and take it back with a leaping grab.

Record: 41-63 | Box score