Notes: Bummer, Rodón return to bullpen

Aaron Bummer is one of Major League Baseball's top high-leverage relievers.

But after being out of action since early August with a left biceps strain and ensuing nerve pain in that area, the White Sox southpaw is ready for any role in any inning upon his return from the 45-day injured list Thursday.

“On my end, I don't really care where it's going to be,” said Bummer, before throwing a scoreless eighth during the White Sox 5-4 loss at Cleveland. “I don't care if it's the fourth inning or if it's the eighth inning. With the guys we've got back there, we're going to be able to shorten the game from the fourth through the ninth, high-leverage guys that are going to be able to get it done.

“I do know the guys at the end of the game have been doing a great job. Once you add back Evan Marshall, there are going to be a lot of guys that have been proven in throwing high-leverage situations, so we're going to be able to shorten that game even more.”

Bummer, 27, suffered the injury working in the seventh inning of a 2-0 victory over Cleveland on Aug. 7. Bummer's first reaction to the pain was to fight through it and finish the inning. On the next pitch he threw, Bummer realized it wasn't going to work. That shutdown allowed him to return this year and contribute during the upcoming postseason.

“So thankfully I kind of stopped myself there from doing something worse than what I did,” Bummer said. “Honestly, perfect timing. We made it back, and hopefully there's a long way to go.”

With a five-year, $16 million extension signed last offseason, Bummer is an integral part to the future success of the White Sox. But it took the ground-ball specialist -- with a 1.23 ERA in seven games this season -- a little time to feel as if his stuff was ready.

“It was a very slow, deliberate kind of throwing program,” Bummer said. “I felt pretty good as soon as we got into the sim-game stage: It was fight or flight at that point in time. When we got to that sim game, it's either you're going to make it or you're not.

“As soon as I got to that point, and the hitters stepped in the box and kind of the competitive juices kind of kept going, I felt pretty confident with where my stuff was at and how I felt. Whenever I threw that first one, which I think was four or five days ago, that was kind of that point in time, I was like, 'All right, we're going to be back and we're going to be ready to go.'”

Rodon returns … to the bullpen
Carlos Rodón was reinstated from the 45-day IL (left shoulder soreness) along with Bummer, with veteran relievers Steve Cishek and Ross Detwiler designated for assignment to make room on the roster.

A career starter with only three of his 95 appearances coming out of the bullpen, Rodón, 27, will be used in relief over the final four regular-season games and potentially in the playoffs.

“First of all, we see he's truly healthy and feeling good, and we'll see if his stuff can play in that relief role,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “It's going to be new for him, having been down a while but working through it. We have an opportunity to see where he's at, and it's the best measuring stick we can use.”

Third to first
• Cleveland has 12 walk-off victories against the White Sox since 2013, including Tuesday and Wednesday of this series.

• Luis Robert Jr., mired in 0-for-28 and 6-for-70 slumps, was given the day off Thursday.

“Right now, the rest Luis takes, watching the game and relaxing and hopefully enjoying a victory today with his teammates, will help,” said Renteria, who surmised the rookie has hit a proverbial wall. “Hopefully, he can watch and take a step back.”

He said it
“Our offense was spectacular all season long. It's hard to maintain that for an entire season, during an entire stretch of the season. Maybe next year or further down the road, that's something that we'll be able to keep riding that momentum and keep it going throughout the course of an entire year. But having this little stretch here is a little bit of that wakeup call. Things are going to be tough at times, and it's going to take us kind of picking each other up where we need to and believing in ourselves to get out of it.” -- Lucas Giolito, on the effect of his team's 1-5 stretch entering Thursday