Gamethread: White Sox at Reds

After Dylan Cease’s (1-0, 2.96 ERA) great start against Detroit, he’ll have a much tougher task ahead against the Cincinnati Reds, the team with the highest OPS (.780) in baseball. If Cease can avoid giving up the long ball, the Sox have a chance against Reds starter Jeff Hoffman.

Hoffman (2-1, 3.33 ERA), despite his numbers, has shown control issues as of late, walking five in 4 innings in his last start versus the Dodgers, so if the White Sox can stay disciplined, they have a good chance to knock Hoffman out of the game early.

Tony La Russa has a slightly tweaked lineup with Madrigal moved up to the No. 2 spot. Adam Eaton will fill in at the five-hole in front of rookie Andrew Vaughn, who finally gets some additional looks in LF. As expected, Mercedes is not in the lineup as the Sox are without a DH. See the full lineup below:

With the White Sox’s recent signing of veteran outfielder Brian Goodwin, it’ll be interesting to see how La Russa will adjust the lineup, but this will likely be the set lineup until that happens, with Eaton and Vaughn looking to drive in runs and pick up the bottom-half of the lineup.

The entire lineup is stacked with dangerous bats on the Reds side, with Eugenio Suárez being the only weak spot. Suárez has a paltry .149/.237/.337 slash line and is leading the majors with 44 strikeouts.

The game starts tonight at 5:40 p.m. CST on NBC Sports Chicago+ (local) or MLB.TV (national). As usual, radio coverage will be available on WMVP 1000 AM. It should be a fun one!