SURPRISE, Ariz. — Right-hander Erick Fedde knew he wanted to return to the White Sox, the one organization with which he has -experienced success over his eight-year big-league career.
Fedde, who signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract, already is on the team’s 40-man roster and battling for a spot in the rotation. Fedde allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out four in 3⅔ innings in relief of lefty Hagen Smith in Sunday’s 10-4 loss against the Royals.
Fedde began the outing by allowing two singles and a sacrifice fly that scored the Royals’ first run before getting Starling Marte to whiff looking and striking out Carter Jensen. In the fourth, he allowed a leadoff homer to Brandon Drury on a cutter in the middle of the plate.
He righted the ship and allowed a single and recorded three outs on a sacrifice bunt and two flyouts. The third run he allowed came after a Kyle Isbel leadoff double, followed by an RBI single by Lane Thomas.
“[The] sweeper was great today,” Fedde said. “Lots of swing and miss on it. That’s a big part of my game.”
The objective for Fedde was to go three or four innings. He didn’t like spraying hits and ratcheting up the pitch count over lengthy at-bats, but he was pleased with the quality of his stuff. As with all spring-training outings, you have to take it with a grain of salt. Pitchers often work on -different pitch grips and tinker during an appearance.
“[I was] focusing on the cutter grip [that] we’ve been working on, just making sure it’s moving the right amount,” Fedde said. “Unfortunately, the homer was on that [cutter], but got him to strike out later on it, so a little redemption there.”
Fedde said he hasn’t had much conversation with manager Will Venable about the competition and didn’t want to push the question on them. Through three appearances this spring, Fedde has a 3.12 ERA over 8⅔ innings. He’s still firmly in the competition for one of the team’s rotation spots with right-handers Sean Burke and Jonathan Cannon.
Smith getting comfortable
Smith had a sterling start for the Sox on Sunday, throwing two scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Smith won’t break camp with the big-league team, but it’s encouraging that Smith’s stuff is crisp and that he did a good job finding the strike zone.
Smith was reassigned to minor-league camp Monday, but the arrow is pointing up for his development. He’ll start the season at Triple-A Charlotte.
“I was a lot better than I was last year,” Smith said Sunday. ‘‘This time. Everything feels good, I threw a couple of cutters today for the first time in a game in a while.”
Roster moves
Before Monday’s game, the Sox reassigned six players: outfielders Dru Baker and Dustin Harris; infielders William Bergolla Jr. and Oliver Dunn; right-hander Tyson Miller and Smith.
Rangers 3,Sox 2
Right-hander Sean Burke allowed one run on three hits with four strikeouts and three walks over three innings.
• Outfielders Everson Pereira and Jarred Kelenic were a combined 0-for-6.
• On deck: A’s at Sox, 3:05 p.m. Monday, Glendale, TBA vs. Anthony Kay.