Gamethread: White Sox at Cleveland (nightcap)

After the thrilling win in the first game, the White Sox (33-20) have another matchup against Cleveland (28-24), their closest competitor in the AL Central.

Jimmy Lambert will start on the mound for the South Siders. This will be Lambert’s first career MLB start. Lambert only has two innings of experience at the major league level, but they went well. Lambert appeared in two games last year (July 25 vs. Minnesota and July 28 at Cleveland), and he pitched a shutout inning in both of those. In 11 ²⁄₃ inning in Triple-A with the Charlotte Knights in 2021, Lambert has a 7.71 ERA, but he has been dominant at times (17.7 K/9), and the peripherals are far more favorable as a result (2.17 xFIP).

Cal Quantrill, who also has not started any games in 2021, will start for Cleveland. Quantrill’s 2021 stats are mighty close to an inverse of Lamberts. While Quantrill’s ERA is low (2.03), his peripherals are not so convinced that his performance has been strong (4.05 FIP, 4.36 xFIP, 0.1 fWAR in 26 ²⁄₃ innings).

Here are the starting lineups for the second game of the doubleheader:

As usual, NBC Sports Chicago will televise the game, and WMVP 1000 AM will have the radio coverage. The game will start at 5:35 p.m. CST. Let’s extend the AL Central lead.