White Sox's Covey hopes to be right at home vs. Angels

Dylan Covey's long and bumpy road to the major leagues is finally passing through Southern California.

Covey is scheduled to start for the Chicago White Sox on Thursday afternoon in the finale of a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels.

The White Sox (36-65) won the first two games at Angel Stadium before center fielder Mike Trout hit two home runs Wednesday night to lead Los Angeles (51-52) to an 11-3 win.

Covey has made 30 appearances in his two-year career, including 24 starts, but none have come near his hometown of Glendale, Calif.

Covey (4-5, 4.95 ERA) should be motivated to pitch well in front of family and friends, and the right-hander is coming off the best start of his short career.

He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against the Seattle Mariners on Saturday before exiting with one out in the ninth inning. The White Sox went on to win 5-0.

"The last couple of outings I haven't been mixing up speeds enough and they've been getting to me the second time through (the batting order)," he told the Chicago Sun-Times after the win.

Just reaching the majors was a huge accomplishment for Covey, who will turn 27 next month.

He was drafted 14th overall out of high school by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2010, but a post-draft physical revealed he had Type 1 diabetes and he was dangerously low on hemoglobin. When the results came in, Covey went straight from celebrating with friends at an amusement park to the emergency room.

Doctors said he would've died within weeks if his condition had gone untreated.

"It was like winning the lottery, going to pick up the check, and finding out one of the numbers were wrong," his father, Darrell Covey, told USA Today last year.

Covey eventually decided to pass on a $1.6 million signing bonus and focus on his health. He enrolled at the University of San Diego and learned to manage his condition while playing for the Toreros. After three seasons, Covey was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 major league draft by the Oakland A's.

It took another four years for Covey to reach the majors and 13 starts before he recorded his first victory.

He was 3-1 with a 2.29 ERA after six starts this season, but struggled during the second half of June and his first two starts in July.

He rediscovered his off-speed pitch and that helped him bounce back with the best outing of his major league career on Saturday.

Angels right-hander Nick Tropeano (3-5, 4.58) will make his second start since missing nearly six weeks with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He allowed two runs (one earned) and two hits in five innings Saturday against the Houston Astros, but was no match against right-hander Justin Verlander in the 7-0 loss.

"I felt pretty good physically," Tropeano told MLB.com after the game. "My main goal was to come out healthy."

In his only career appearance against the White Sox, Tropeano made a spot start Aug. 20, 2015 and gave up six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings of an 8-2 loss in Anaheim.