PHOENIX — Drew Thorpe wasn’t nearly as sharp in the second start of his big-league career.

The right-hander allowed seven earned runs — three in the first inning — for the Chicago White Sox in Sunday’s 12-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of 37,694 at Chase Field.

Thorpe walked five and didn’t record a strikeout in 3 1/3 innings.

“Just kind of didn’t have my best stuff,” Thorpe said. “I didn’t have my best command, obviously. It’s pretty hard to work around it when you don’t have it with the stuff I have.

“I beat myself, right. Five walks, that’s not how I am. The only thing you can do is flush it and get to the next one and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Thorpe allowed one earned run on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks in his major-league debut Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

The Diamondbacks got to him early. Joc Pederson drove in two with a double — he was out trying to make it to third. Christian Walker followed with a solo home run, making it 3-0 in the first.

Thorpe got knocked out of the game during a six-run fourth inning for the Diamondbacks.

“He’s got to be able to pitch and command the strike zone,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “That’s going to be his bread and butter. That’s going to be how he performs at this level. If that’s a little off, then he’s going to have to make some adjustments and if it’s way off like today, he’ll struggle a little bit.

“He’s a good competitor so you can’t overthink this one.”

The Sox lost two of three in the series and went 2-5 on the trip. Here are three more takeaways from the weekend.

1. Explaining Saturday’s intentional balk that aided the Sox.

Sox catcher Martín Maldonado has a connection with Diamondbacks pitching coach Brent Strom from their time together with the Houston Astros.

“I’ve been in this game for a long time, their pitching coach knows me really good,” Maldonado said Saturday.

That might have been a factor in a unique sequence during Saturday’s third inning. Maldonado doubled and moved to third when Thyago Vieira intentionally dropped the ball for a balk.

“Maldonado is very crafty,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told Arizona reporters, including MLB.com, after the game. “And he was given signs. He was (perfect). He didn’t miss one. And so I just went out there and said, ‘Let’s force a balk.’”

Andrew Vaughn followed with an RBI single, the first run for the Sox in an eventual 9-2 victory. Regardless of the outcome, Grifol thought it was a good move by Lovullo.

“It helped Martín scoring from third instead of scoring from second,” Grifol said before Sunday’s game. “There might have been a play at home, but you know what? I applaud what (Lovullo) did. He identified it.

“There’s multiple ways of fixing it instead of having the pitcher do something uncomfortable in the moment. Balk him over to third and get the next guy out. And I applaud him for it.”

2. Lenyn Sosa benefiting from ‘the freedom to play free.’

Lenyn Sosa singled in the sixth inning Saturday. He hit a three-run home run the next inning. And he doubled in the ninth.

The third baseman went 3-for-5 with one of the team’s four home runs in the game. He’s 18-for-50 with two home runs and seven RBIs in 14 games since being recalled from Triple-A Charlotte on May 31. He went 2-for-4 Sunday.

Sosa said through an interpreter after Saturday’s game that the confidence from the coaches has given him “the freedom to play free, the way I was playing in the minors.”

“I would rather play to have fun, to enjoy the game, and of course to help to do whatever it takes to have the team win,” Sosa said. “I’ve been enjoying the game playing with no pressure.”

Grifol said Sunday that mindset is “the only way he’s going to have success.”

“He’s not going to have success playing like he was before, just playing tight and not wanting to make mistakes and worried about making mistakes,” Grifol said. “Part of development is allowing players to do their thing and another big part of development is the players accepting instruction and constructive criticism, knowing that it’s coming from a good place. Coming from a place getting them better as an individual and getting us better as a team, as an organization.

“The No. 1 thing is to go out and play free. Don’t worry about making mistakes, and if you do make them, open your mind and let’s talk about it and get better for the next day. That’s development.”

3. Sox designate OF Duke Ellis for assignment and add C Chuckie Robinson to the 40-man roster.

Before Sunday’s game, the Sox designated outfielder Duke Ellis for assignment and selected the contract of catcher Chuckie Robinson from Charlotte to add him to the 40-man roster, then optioned him to Charlotte.

“(Robinson) had an out (in his contract), and he’s got a lot of value to the organization,” Grifol said of the move.

Robinson originally signed as a minor-league free agent during the offseason. He’s hitting .234 with six home runs and 25 RBIs in 41 games with the Knights.

“He’s a guy we really liked in the spring,” Grifol said. “He’s got a lot of energy. We didn’t want to lose him.”

Ellis, who was optioned to Charlotte on Wednesday, went 0-for-4 with a run and four stolen bases in eight games with the Sox this season.

“I really like Duke, we’ll see how that plays out,” Grifol said. “Two premium things — one is a premium position guy (in Robinson), and the other is premium speed (in Ellis). Sometimes you’ve got to make a tough decision, and that was it.”

(FOX40.COM) — As California deals with an active fire season, multiple Northern California counties have suspended burn permits for outdoor residential burning beginning Monday, June 17.

The Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit said the areas included are Alpine, Amador, El Dorado, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Nevada, Yuba, Placer, and Sierra counties.

Cal Fire Amador said the new burn permit restrictions are in addition to those placed in other areas throughout Amador and El Dorado counties on June 10.

“This suspension takes effect Monday, June 17, 2024, at 8 am. and bans all residential outdoor burning of landscape debris such as branches and leaves,” Cal Fire said.

It continued, “While outdoor burning of landscape debris by homeowners is no longer allowed, CAL FIRE is asking residents to take that extra time to ensure they are prepared for wildfires by maintaining a minimum of 100 feet of Defensible Space around every home and building on their property and being prepared to evacuate if the time comes.”

The announcement comes as Northern California has dealt with an active fire season, including a recent 800-acre fire in Sacramento, a 1,000-acre fire in Butte County, and a 14,000-acre fire in San Joaquin County before July 1.

Some tips offered by Cal Fire to help Californians prepare their homes and property for fires include:

• Clear all dead and or dying vegetation 100 feet from around all structures.
• Landscape with fire-resistant plants and non-flammable ground cover.
• Find alternative ways to dispose of landscape debris like chipping or hauling it to a biomass energy or green waste facility.

Two people were injured in a shooting outside a Walgreens in Old Colorado City, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.

The shooting, initially reported as an active shooter situation, occurred after an argument between the two people, according to an X post by the department.

At 1:30 p.m. Sunday, the Colorado Springs Police Department received a call about an active shooter at a Walgreens in the 3100 block of West Colorado Avenue, according to the department.

When officers arrived, they found one person with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound in front of the Walgreens. Several people reported that a possible suspect was still in the store. Officers requested people in nearby businesses to shelter in place and called for the tactical unit. Officers then entered the store and escorted a woman, who was sheltering in place, to safety, according to the post.

The Tactical Enforcement Unit and police officers searched the store and did not find the suspect. Around the same time, a second person with a gunshot wound arrived at a local hospital, the post states.

The CSPD later determined that the shooting occurred after an argument between the two injured individuals and was not an active shooter situation, according to the department.

The incident is under investigation by the CSPD assault unit.

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