From the Locker Room: Dallas Keuchel's painful perfection

Dallas Keuchel refuses to have a bad start for the Chicago White Sox.

Sunday's might have been his best, with just two hits and two Ks over five innings, had he not tweaked his back on a comebacker to end the Royals fifth.

Perhaps even more importantly for a White Sox bullpen that was close to tapped out after continual short starts from the rotation, Keuchel had thrown just 49 pitches through five innings, putting him in line to perhaps throw a complete game and give the entire pen the day off.

Alas, it was not to be.

"[My back] grabbed, it wasn’t a very comfortable feeling," Keuchel said postgame. "It’s disappointing because of the pace I was at, and how comfortable I was at before that. [The back] didn’t really warm back up. I gave notice between innings [I might need to come out]. I tried to throw a warmup pitch, and [my back] just wasn’t having it.

"It’s just one of those things, I don’t really like talking about nagging injuries, and don’t want people to feel sorry for me or that I’m making excuses. It frustrates me. I move around the field a lot compared to other pitchers, and I don’t like just being like a guy who just pitches."

Ironically, while Keuchel has been battling back stiffness all season, during pregame Sunday he noted, "I don’t know if I’d felt better in a long, long time."

The good news is that with two days off this week, Keuchel isn't due to pitch again until Saturday. And while he wasn't looking forward to a long plane trip to Pittsburgh, he felt confident that today he would be able to safely execute his day-after regiment of cardio work and stretching.

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Dallas Keuchel video courtesy of Chicago White Sox.