This was always going to happen. Not to slander the abilities of Mr. Dylan Covey, but no Rule 5 pick was going to come to the major leagues, get installed directly in a starting rotation, and not receive a requisite shelling.

Wednesday, Covey got his in New York, as the Yankees pounded him for three home runs, including back-to-back missiles from Starlin Castro and Aaron Judge in the fifth inning. The White Sox were torched 9-1 to wrap up a 5-4 road trip that began in Cleveland and Minnesota.

Covey got some swings-and-misses on his two-seamer, his still-fledgling changeup was promising, but his secondary pitches didn’t throw off hitters’ timing, and they sat on his fastball and drilled everything left up toward the center of the zone. Chase Headley blasted a 93 mph heater way out right-center to put New York up 2-0 in the first, Austin Romine kickstarted a two-run second by staying with a sinking curve for an RBI single to center, and the Yankees never got even a momentary reason to look back.

New York Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro rounds first base after hitting a three-run home run against the Chicao White Sox during the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium. Revenge for all of those lost BP Cups. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

White Sox hitters spurned opportunities to make things more difficult for Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, who had been suffering a rocky beginning to the season, but probably not nine runs worth of opportunities. Jose Abreu broke out for three hits, Tim Anderson drove the ball and Avisail Garcia drew two walks as the offensive encouragement during an otherwise lost night.

The good

Abreu was hitless in his last five games and without an extra-base hit since Opening Day, so a pair of doubles from him is a big deal. His contact and batted ball rates suggested some normalization was overdue, but it’s nevertheless a huge relief to actually see it.

White Sox relief pitching remains dominant. Zach Putnam has allowed just two of the 25 hitters he’s faced to reach base, and Tommy Kahnle looks pretty good when he’s commanding 98-100mph heat rather than just throwing it. He struck out the side to give him 12 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings of work.

Tim Anderson doubled deep off the center field wall and had a loud fly out, so every core piece of the lineup decided to right itself in the background while the Sox took a beating on the scoreboard.

Not quite as good

Obviously it’s an open question on whether Covey can stick in the rotation, but two strikeouts in his first 47 batters faced certainly doesn’t speak well to having the stuff to pitch over his command struggles at the moment. He’s not a “strikeout guy” but that’s below the threshold where even a two-seam/cutter approach can bear fruit.

Cody Asche went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, and has just two walks and two singles in 32 plate appearances to start the year. He’s left-handed and his career numbers show this is not his usual, but they have other directions to go for playing time, so the Sox probably won’t wait forever for a hot streak.

Takeaways

Covey getting rocked is to be expected given the rough transition he is being put through, but there is certainly a dearth of factors from his outing that could read as a positive. The process of finding a workable approach for him is obviously going to have some rough spots, and when we say rough, this is a good idea of what we mean.

Notables

Todd Frazier has now missed six of the Sox’s 14 games so far this season with this nagging stomach flu.

Omar Narvaez throwing out Ronald Torreyes at second on a ball in the dirt in the fourth inning was not listed in the box score as a caught stealing, but it is notable, since he only gunned down two of 25 attempts in 2016 and spent the spring focusing on his throwing.

Looking ahead

The White Sox get a much needed day off as they return for a six-game homestand against Cleveland and Kansas City. Friday will be a matchup of struggling aces, as Jose Quintana and Corey Kluber face each other at 7:10 p.m.