Gamethread: White Sox at Orioles

The Chicago White Sox (63-61) look to steal the series away from the Baltimore Orioles (64-59) this evening, after finally scoring more than three runs and securing a W in the scorebooks last night. They are now tied with the Minnesota Twins for second place in the AL Central, who have essentially been slowly choking as the second half has progressed; both teams trail the Cleveland Guardians by four games.

Lance Lynn will lead the way for the White Sox tonight, making his 13th start, and his second against Baltimore. The last time he pitched against the Orioles, it was just his third start of the year coming off of the IL on June 25, where he gave up five ER on six hits. He has had several rough outings in 2022, with an overall 5.30 ERA. But the good news is that Lynn has improved over the last five games, with a 3.68 ERA across that span. Over the same time period, he has also accumulated nearly 50% of his season strikeout total (34) and has walked just two batters.

Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays could be tough outs tonight, as they’ve both been pretty hot over their last five games (and we’ve seen that first hand), both posting an excellent OPS of better than 1.100. But maybe we can get this hyped version of Lance tonight?

The White Sox offense will go up against Jordan Lyles, also for the second time this season. Lyles has a 4.61 ERA on the year, and opponents are batting .284 against him. Over his 138 ²⁄₃ innings in 2022, Lyles has struck out 119 while walking 45. The Sox have been a bit more patient at the plate the last week or so, which we hope to continue to see.

Maryland native Gavin Sheets, will look to continue his hot streak, showing off in his old stomping grounds. In this series against the Orioles, he has gone 5-for-8, averaging .625, and drove in three of yesterday’s five total runs. Over his last five games, Sheets is also batting .556 with a 1.223 OPS — we absolutely LOVE to see it. Have a week, Gavin! (Someone else join him, please?)

I hope you’ve been enjoying watching him, because Tony has him batting second tonight, behind Andrew Vaughn in the leadoff spot. As we know, Tony likes to top-load the lineup with his speediest players.

Let’s take a look at how they are lined up tonight:

You can catch the action at 6:05 p.m. CT on NBC Sports Chicago or AM radio 1000. Let’s go Sox!