CLEVELAND -- Jesse Scholtens has earned the unofficial title as the sixth White Sox starter in 2023, although seven of his 10 appearances this season have come for Triple-A Charlotte.

That responsibility went to the 29-year-old right-hander through his solid work with the Knights but also when Davis Martin was shut down for the season due to Tommy John surgery. So when Mike Clevinger was placed on the injured list with right wrist inflammation, Scholtens was the man to take his rotation spot during a 3-0 loss to Cleveland in Monday’s series opener at Progressive Field.

Actually, reliever Jimmy Lambert was the opener for the first inning. But Scholtens followed by allowing one run over five innings as a three-game winning streak came to an end for the White Sox (19-30).

“They let me know what the plan was going into this game,” Scholtens said. “Just tried to get myself ready and go out there and execute as many pitches until they told me to stop and that’s what I did.”

“He pounded the strike zone and made some good pitches when he needed to,” said White Sox manager Pedro Grifol. “He made some good pitches behind in the count too. He’s calm, he’s got a nice mix. He threw some good breaking balls but that’s not the best I've seen his curveball and his curveball is a good pitch for him.”

Cleveland (21-26) put two runners on base against Scholtens in the second and brought in its lone run against him via Gabriel Arias scoring on a wild pitch. Scholtens said that pitch was a fastball down and away that got away.

“Probably the first one I don’t know how long I’ve let go like that,” Scholtens said. “Something I have to nail down and lock down for the next time.”

Otherwise, he pitched through the sixth unscathed, striking out Josh Bell to strand Steven Kwan at third in the last hitter faced.

“It was great,” second baseman Romy González said. “Did exactly what we needed him to: eat some innings up and he did a tremendous job. He's a really, really good pitcher."

“He’s a good guy to have around, especially in the Minor Leagues in case something like this happens,” Grifol said. “He can pitch a little bit.”

In reality, Scholtens might not be with the team beyond the time Clevinger is absent. But depth is a key factor for any team, especially one trying to fight its way back from a miserable start to the campaign where every game literally does matter. He can help now and almost certainly will be called upon again in-season.

When Clevinger’s turn comes up Saturday in Detroit, there’s a good chance Scholtens’ name will be penciled in again. He definitely benefited from previous appearances on April 7 in Pittsburgh and April 11 in Minneapolis, getting his big league debut out of the way. He also was helped by veteran catcher Yasmani Grandal on Monday.

“There were some times, a lot of the times tonight, I was behind but Yas kind of hung with me a little bit and helped get me back in some at-bats, and kind of helped me get through those innings,” Scholtens said. “He kept with my strengths and kind of let me back in some at-bats.”

“Maybe we’ll do the same thing,” said Grifol of employing an opener before Scholtens. “We have to wait and see what projected lineups come our way in Detroit and play it by ear.”