Gamethread: White Sox vs. Orioles

Will tonight begin the White Sox first series win of the season? If a young Orioles team has its way, it won’t be.

Before we get to the game preview, the Chicago ball club made a number of roster moves this afternoon that warrant some attention.

Most notably, Eloy Jiménez back back after straining his hamstring. It cost the team one Yoán Moncada, who finds himself on the 10-day IL with lower back soreness.

The truly alarming move regards Matt Foster, as the right-handed pitcher was placed on the 60-day IL with a right (forearm) flexor strain. One could hypothesize that Tommy John surgery might be in his future.

On the mound tonight for the Orioles is Tyler Wells. He is a right-handed pitcher in his third season with the Baltimore ball club. This will be his second start of the young season. So far, he is 0-1 with a 3.27 ERA. The righthander has struck out eight and walked no one in his 11 innings of work. Wells utilizes four pitches for the most part, with his 93 mph 4-seam fastball being utilized the most, at 32.4%. He uses his 89 mph cutter 26.5%, an 86 mph changeup 19.9%, and a 75 mph curveball 14% of the time. Wells also has a slider, but he has only thrown it 6.6% so far this season. He leans heavily on his fastball when he has two strikes on a batter. Currently, his xBA is sitting at .221.

Facing off against Wells is a White Sox team that is fifth in the league in hits but 14th in runs scored. The team is currently batting .263.

Leading the this evening is Andrew Benintendi, playing left field. He is followed by team home run leader, Luis Robert Jr. Andrew Vaughn is batting third and playing first base. Cleanup duty has been handed back to Jiménez, who is the DH. Jake Burger gets the nod at third base followed by Yasmani Grandal behind the dish. The lineup finishes with Lenyn Sosa at second base, Oscar Colás in right field, and Elvis Andrus at shortstop.

Brandon Hyde lines his boys up below:

First pitch this evening is at 6:10 p.m. CST. You can watch the game on NBC Sports Chicago or listen on ESPN-AM 1000. I’ll be back postgame with both your game recap and Bird App recap, while Delia Ritchie takes on the Six Pack of Stats.