White Sox manager Will Venable explains switch of Sunday starter

GLENDALE, Ariz. — On Saturday, left-hander Chris Murphy was listed as the White Sox’ starter Sunday against the Royals at Camelback Ranch. When the clubhouse opened in the hours before the game, however, right-hander Jordan Hicks was listed as the starter with Murphy coming on in relief.

Murphy said that’s the way the lineup read when he got it Saturday night. No big deal. He thinks the Sox are beginning to settle him into a bullpen role, but he’s not sure.

‘‘That’s all I’ve got for you,’’ Murphy said.

Hicks said last week he was fine with a bullpen role, then started against the Royals.

Manager Will Venable explained the reason for the shift after announcing that right-hander Shane Smith would be the Sox’ Opening Day starter March 26 in Milwaukee.

‘‘It depends every day on how we’re deploying these guys,’’ Venable said. ‘‘We had a couple of guys we could throw. It was an opportunity to get Hicks up front. He might be someone at some point this year you could see open. It gives you an opportunity to give him some work out front here, but it also gives you an opportunity for him to face better hitters, which we think was important.’’

Hicks wasn’t stellar while working into the second inning. He walked four batters, including three in a row, before being lifted. He threw 38 pitches, 22 of them balls.

Murphy finally came in during the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three.

No Dominguez

The Sox haven’t had access to reliever Seranthony Dominguez, who is playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. He made only two Cactus League appearances — and none since Feb. 27 — before he left.

Venable has said all spring that Dominguez is going to be the Sox’ closer, which should be interesting.

Dominguez signed a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $20 million as a free agent during the offseason. At $10 million for this season, he’s the Sox’ third-highest-paid player. So as long as he remains healthy, he has the closing job.

What he doesn’t have, however, is a recent history of closing games consistently. Last season, he saved four games in a combined 67 appearances for the Orioles and Blue Jays. He has 40 saves in his career, 16 of them for the Phillies as a rookie in 2018.

Still, Dominguez’s presence has set up an interesting dynamic in camp, reliever Grant Taylor said.

‘‘I think it’s awesome,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘It brings some friendly competition between each other. There’s always discussion after an outing about what guys did well. It brings some healthy competition, and it frees you up to perform because you have some really, really good guys behind you.’’

Sox 5, Royals 4

Jarred Kelenic challenged a called third strike on a 2-2 count and had it reversed with two outs in the first inning. On the next pitch from Royals starter Noah Cameron, he smacked a 438-foot home run to right field, his second of the spring and second in as many starts. He whiffed looking in the third, then added a single that was misplayed off the right-field wall in the Sox’ three-run fifth.

• Colson Montgomery also hit a two-run homer, contributing to the scoring in the fifth.

• Luisangel Acuna was in the lineup again, this time at shortstop. He went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, bringing his spring numbers to a .412 batting average (7-for-17) and a 1.121 OPS. He played second base Saturday.

Manager Will Venable said his players should prepare to play multiple positions.

Acuna also can play center field.

• On deck: Rockies at Sox, 3:05 p.m. Monday, Glendale, Kyle Freeland vs. Jedixson Paez.