White Sox: Jones and Albers progressing, Crain has setback

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While recent news on Nate Jones and Matt Albers has been good, Jesse Crain is still out of action after almost two weeks.

Crain, who remains in extended spring training and has made six appearances in the Arizona Rookie League, hasn’t pitched since July 5. General manager Rick Hahn said Friday there is no timetable for when Crain may return.

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“Jesse had a little bit of a setback about a week ago in one of his Arizona League outings which caused us to take a step back,” Hahn said. “His next outing isn't quite scheduled yet as we continue to get him back on path.”

Prior to his injury, Crain, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since June 2013 and has worked hard to rehab back from a bad shoulder, posted five straight scoreless innings.

The news is far more encouraging for Jones, who has appeared in two games at Single-A Winston-Salem, and Albers. In his first game, Jones threw four 100-mph fastballs in eight pitches. Albers, who has a 4.63 ERA overall, hasn’t allowed a run in six of eight appearances. He also has five strikeouts over four scoreless innings in his past two games.

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“(Jones has) felt real good afterwards,” Hahn said. “Not only have the outings been good, but as importantly how he's felt the day after has been good. He'll have at least one more down there and then we'll probably start moving him up the chain as well and he, knock on wood, remains on course of being activated at some point within the 30-day rehab period. (Albers is) continuing to climb and he'll probably have another outing there and then be close to activation himself.”

Though they had Frankie Montas in the bullpen for both games of Friday’s doubleheader, the White Sox plan to go with a six-man relief corps on Saturday and Sunday. The team is off on Monday and the White Sox are expected to add another reliever before Tuesday’s series opener against St. Louis.

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