As his struggles continue, the White Sox determined the best thing for Melky Cabrera is a night out of the lineup.
With David Price on the mound for the Detroit Tigers, manager Robin Ventura gave the switch hitter -- who has yet to find a rhythm from the right side -- a game off. Cabrera, who is just 4-for-50 against southpaws, is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday afternoon. But Ventura believes Cabrera could benefit from a game on the bench.
“Just giving him a breather,” Ventura said. “He doesn’t necessarily want to be out for this, but I think one day is important for him just to watch and take a breather and he’ll back in there (Sunday).”
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Cabrera looked out of sorts as he struck out twice against Detroit left-hander Kyle Ryan in Friday’s victory. He has a .080/.096/.080 slash line in 53 plate appearances against left-handers. What’s surprising, Ventura said, is Cabrera has never struggled like this against lefties. He has a .721 career OPS with a career low mark of .578 in 2008.
Emilio Bonifacio started for the White Sox in left field and hit ninth on Saturday in Cabrera’s place.
“Switch hitters are always different,” Ventura said. “Usually they hit better from one side or the other. This is more of a drastic thing than you’ve ever seen because in his career it hasn’t been this way. I think if we’d have seen this somewhere before you’d probably accept it a little more but he’s been pretty consistent from both sides. This is just one day and gives us a chance for Bonny to get in there and gets us at-bats as well and feel like I think it gives us a pretty good chance.”