Former White Sox starting pitcher hurts AL Central teams and impacts AL playoff race

Of all people, former Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Jesse Scholtens was pitching in a meaningful baseball game over the weekend and had an impact on the American League playoff race.

That didn't seem possible when he was stashed in Triple-A by one of the worst teams in baseball last month.

Scholtens was designated for assignment by the White Sox on August 3 of this year after spending most of the season doing rehab after getting Tommy John surgery.

In both High-A Winston-Salem and Triple-A Charlotte this season, Scholtens had struggled. That didn't stop the Tampa Bay Rays from claiming the 31-year-old right-hander on waivers once Chicago went in a different direction.

Surprisingly, the Rays recalled Scholtens from Triple-A Durham over the weekend, and he found himself ptichign consequential inning saginst the Boston Red Sox.

Scholtens gets the loss against Boston

Scholtens came out of the bullpen in relief of another former White Sox starting pitcher, Adrian Houser, on Saturday night. The Rays were trailing 3-1 when Scholtens entered the game, but RBI hits from Nick Fortes and Yandy Diaz tied the score, 3-3, in the bottom of the seventh inning,

After working out of a ham in the eighth, Scholtens was through two clean innings. Manager Kevin Cash left him out there of the ninth, and a hit parade from the Red Sox pushed three runs across the plate.

Boston would win by a final score of 6-3, and Scholtens got the loss in his Rays debut.

While the Rays are 76-80 and have already been mathematically eliminated, a late win by the Red Sox could have serious implications on the AL playoff picture.

With six games remaining in the regular season, the Red Sox (85-71) are currently sitting with the second wild card in the AL. However, they are only one (1.0) game ahead of both the Cleveland Guardians and the Houston Astros, who are tied for the final wild card spot.

The Detroit Tigers (85-71), have a one-game lead in the AL Central, but are tied in overall record with the Red Sox. There's no guarantee the Tigers make the playoffs if they lose the division race to Cleveland, especially because Boston and Detroit finish the season with a series against one another.

Had the Red Sox lose that game to the Rays, the Tigers, Guardians, and Astros would all have a lot more wiggle room in their current race for a postseason birth.

Instead, a former White Sox starting pitcher really hindered some of Chicago's biggest division rivals.