Gamethread: White Sox at Phillies

In what seemed to be a real-life manifestation of a kid with a questionably chaotic alignment playing MLB The Show, the Chicago White Sox edged out the Philadelphia Phillies last night (or this morning?) 4-3, in a game that lasted 15 innings.

A position player pitching? Old news. How about a pitcher playing left field, garnering an outfield assist? Pitcher Vince Velasquez threw out José Abreu at the plate, which was both impressive and worrisome. Later, Abreu ended up knocking in the winning run with a single off center-fielder-turned-pitcher Roman Quinn, who pitched two innings.

Baseball is weird and confusing and wonderful, and that’s why we all love it. Right?

On the bump tonight for the Phils is Aaron Nola, who’s 9-2 on the season with a 3.72 ERA. Ryan Goins is batting .667 lifetime against Nola in … four plate appearances (gotta love interleague play). The strikeout is Nola’s friend; he’s currently sixth in the NL at 153.

Pitching for the Good Guys and making a return to the rotation is Ross Detwiler. Detwiler is 1-1, carrying a 6.35 ERA. He’ll need to eat some innings, as the bullpen was heavily used last night.

The lineups, if you’re into that sort of thing:

Jon Jay was unavailable yesterday due to an abdominal issue, according to Daryl von Schouwen. Looks like Jay has bounced back, because he’s batting cleanup! … oh my god.

Here’s Gabe Kapler’s lineup:

Bryce Harper, who went 0-for-6 against the White Sox bullpen last night, is batting third.

Also, have some brief transactional news:

Also noteworthy, it’s this guy’s birthday:

This 6:05 CST game can be found televised on WGN; if radio’s more your thing, set your dial to WGN 720. Let’s hope Jay isn’t the first lefty out of the pen tonight.