Chris Sale scratched, Red Sox will face Hector Santiago instead

Chris Sale has tendinitis in his throwing shoulder, and while he was adamant about making his scheduled start against the Red Sox and Clay Buchholz on Wednesday, he doesn't get to make those decisions. The White Sox are skipping their young ace this time around, and will instead use Hector Santiago on three days rest in order to give Sale time to recover.

It's a shame for a few reasons -- Clay Buchholz against Chris Sale had the potential to be one of the best match-ups of the season for either club, and you don't want to see anyone hurt. On the other hand, the Red Sox could use a win after dropping consecutive games to Chicago, and facing anyone besides Sale should help with that goal.

Santiago has been solid this season splitting time between starting and relieving. He has had more success with strikeouts this year as a starter, but is walking fewer batters in relief. In his albeit brief career, he's been a bit more productive as a starter rather than out of the bullpen, but we're talking about 110 combined innings of work, too.

If the Red Sox do come away with a victory against Chicago to close out the series, they will have ended their road trip at 6-3 -- not bad at all, considering they looked vulnerable entering it. They are guaranteed a winning record on this trip regardless of Wednesday's outcome, but obviously, 6-3 is a better place to be than 5-4 in the tough AL East.