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Gamethread: White Sox at Dodgers

Manny Bañuelos gets the start on his birthday, under the lights

By Joe Resis
Chicago White Sox v San Francisco Giants
Feliz cumpleaños: On his 28th birthday, Manny Bañuelos seeks to pick up where he left off at his last outing.
Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images

The Chicago White Sox return to Glendale for a late night matchup against the two-time reigning NL champions.

Manny Bañuelos will be the White Sox’ starting pitcher, as the 28-year old (as of today) looks to build his case to be on the Opening Day 25-man roster. In his most recent start, Bañuelos struck out five and allowed one run on three hits in three innings of work. That outing lowered his spring ERA to 5.68 in 6 1⁄3 innings. Perhaps most notably, his control was much improved from his first start, as he only issued one walk.

Bañuelos will be facing Ross Stripling, who enters with a 3.60 ERA this spring (two earned runs in five innings). Stripling was a 2018 All-Star, with a 3.02 ERA in 122 innings.

The starting lineup is as follows:

  1. RF Jon Jay
  2. 3B Leury Garcia
  3. 1B Yonder Alonso
  4. C James McCann
  5. LF Daniel Palka
  6. SS Tim Anderson
  7. DH Matt Skole
  8. 2B José Rondón
  9. CF Adam Engel

SP Manny Bañuelos

José Abreu was initially penciled in as the No. 3 hitter at first base, but he was removed after taking a ground ball off his mitt to his eye.

Overall, I like this starting lineup given the tools the White Sox have. However, I am still skeptical of Renteria’s decision to bat McCann fourth. He has been hot this spring (.429/.520/.619), but the sample size is far too small to conclude that holds any value outside of the occasional extra base hit. It will also be interesting to see how utility player Leury García handles third base. That position will most likely be occupied by Yoán Moncada on a regular basis, but he is still not a proven success there.

Before tonight’s game, the White Sox made a few moves.

So, after not receiving the call last year, it is a surprise to nobody that Eloy will not be in the majors on Opening Day.

There is some bad but not unexpected news on the Dane Dunning front. He will visit Dr. James Andrews on Monday, and per Rick Hahn, all options are on the table, including Tommy John surgery.

The White Sox enter with a 6-10 spring record after their loss to Milwaukee on Monday. Tonight’s game starts at 9:05 CT and is available on MLB.TV.

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