Gamethread: White Sox at Tigers

The Chicago White Sox (21-30) have won five of their last seven series in the month of May, and they head to Detroit to begin a four-game set with the 22-25 Tigers, crucial in their AL Central division race.

It’s GIO DAYYYY! For the majority of the season thus far, Lucas Giolito has shown flashes of his former Ace self, working to erase the image of 2022 Giolito from our memories. He has been the rock of the starting pitching staff this year, with a 3.62 ERA and 1.12 WHIP of his 59 ²⁄₃ innings — the most innings of the five starters. He’s had a quality start in four of his last five, with an average of 3.00 ERA or lower, with the one outlier being a seven-hit, four-earned outing against the defending World Series Champs.

White Sox offense has been putting the ball in play more recently, and outside of the 3-0 loss to Cleveland earlier this week, they have scored at least one run in every game in May. Now of course, one run isn’t going to cut it, but at the very least, they aren’t getting shut out, right? (Grasping at straws, here!). Romy González is the hot hitter for the Good Guys over the last week, going 5-for-14 with seven RBIs, two doubles, a triple, and a 1.018 OPS. Luis Robert Jr. has also had himself a solid last couple of weeks and is slugging .500 over the last five games.

Alex Faedo is on the mound for the Tigers, making his fourth start of the year. He is 0-2 with a 4.60 ERA, but he doesn’t walk many guys, posting a 0.83 WHIP. If the White Sox can continue to put the ball in play and hit the ball hard, hopefully, they can exploit the weaknesses of Detroit and snag a series-opening win.

The Tigers are batting .230 as a team and rank last in the majors with runs scored, but there are still a few batters that have been hot over the last week. Matt Vierling has posted a .417 average over the last six games, with a 1.107 OPS. Eric Haase, however, is a known White Sox killer, and he’s also batting .381 against Lucas Giolito. Let’s hope we can keep them at bay tonight!

Catch the game in the usual spots on NBC Sports Chicago and ESPN Radio AM 1000.