Gamethread: White Sox at Guardians

Happy Wednesday Sox fans! It’s been a while, but I’m back.

Tonight is yet another important game as the Chicago White Sox play at Progressive Field against the Cleveland Guardians for the last game of the series. Chicago looks to split tonight, and in all honesty we can’t really settle for anything less. The first two games of the series were ... let’s just say hard to watch, as many games have been this season. Last night in the nightcap, however, the team was able to produce on offense, defense, and pitching to secure a 7-0 shutout win.

This game is also important considering the Minnesota Twins already picked up a win earlier today, and we face them for four long games starting tomorrow, before the All-Star break.

Honestly that was a lot of information and pretty stressful, but it’s on brand for this season. So let’s just get into it.

Current SSS Player of the Week Lucas Giolito will be on the mound tonight. He is 5-5, with a 5.05 ERA and 1.44 WHIP. The good news is his last outing, against the Detroit Tigers, looked much better. He got into some trouble later on in the game, which is why he allowed as many runs as he did, but he went 6 ²⁄₃ innings with five hits, five earned runs, and eight strikeouts. Giolito’s prior outing against the San Francisco Giants was even more solid, as he went six innings with just three hits, one earned run, and seven strikeouts. The key tonight will be to keep his control, and make sure his slider and changeup are solid. He relies on four pitches overall, with his fastball being used most of the time, at 46.5%. He follows that with his slider (26%), changeup (24%), and occasional curveball (3.5%).

The South Siders will face righty Aaron Civale, who they have seen a handful of times. This year, Civale is 2-5 with a 6.28 ERA and 1.45 WHIP. His last outing against the Kansas City Royals was terrific, as he went seven innings with six hits, one earned run, and six strikeouts. He uses a ton of pitches, with his cutter being the top choice (32.3%). He also throws a curveball (26.1%), sinker (20.9%), fastball (10.5%), splitter (5.3%), slider (4.8%). Hopefully the White Sox are able to take advantage of Civale’s high ERA and tee off, but pitchers with not-the-best records also tend to throw brilliant games against us, so we will see.

Tim Anderson will lead it off, followed in the 2-spot by Yoán Moncada, who has been hitting some balls very hard lately. Luis Robert is back in center, followed by José Abreu and Eloy Jiménez. Andrew Vaughn will DH and AJ Pollock is in right field. Josh Harrison, who continues to provide great defense is at second base, and Seby Zavala will close it out at catcher.

Let’s see what tonight brings. The game is at 6:10 p.m. CT, and you can watch on NBCSCHI or listen in at ESPN 1000.