Gamethread: White Sox at Dodgers

Happy Sunday; today, we get some more afternoon baseball at Camelback Ranch as the Chicago White Sox will face the Los Angeles Dodgers at both of their home bases.

Before we start, let’s take a moment to honor former White Sox staff member and longtime Tampa Bay Rays radio announcer Dave Wills this afternoon. Wills was also a native of Oak Lawn, Illinois, and graduated from Elmhurst College.

Now, onto today’s contest. Lucas Giolito will be on the mound against lefty southpaw Julio Urías. Both are well-known starters in the game, so it will be nice to see some good head-to-head competition early on.

Giolito is making his first start of the spring after making changes in the offseason to his form, which will be interesting to see. Giolito didn’t have the best season last year, but who did? He went 11-9 with a 4.90 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 30 games. Fans have been waiting to see Giolito back in his CY Young-like form for the last few seasons now, but this year will be the real test to see where he is at. Giolito uses four pitches, with his fastball being used the most at 47.7%. He follows with his changeup (25.5%), slider (23.6%), and curveball (3.2%).

Urias has appeared in one spring training game for the Dodgers this year, in an outing where he pitched 2 ²⁄₃ innings and struck out four. Last season, he had a terrific year going 17-7 with a 2.16 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 166 strikeouts. The ace is looking to continue his success this season for the Dodgers. He relies on just three pitches, with his fastball being used the most at 49.2%. He follows with his slurve (33.3%) and changeup (17.5%).

Hanser Alberto will look to continue his successful spring leading off and playing shortstop, followed by Andrew Vaughn at first and Andrew Benintendi in left. Eloy Jiménez will DH, followed by Jake Burger at third and Oscal Colás in right. Leury García will get the start in center, followed by Lenyn Sosa at second and Sebastian Rivero catching.

Game time is at 2:05 p.m. CT. Yet again, we cannot watch on NBCSCHI, but SNLA is showing the Dodgers broadcast.