Gamethread: White Sox vs. Angels

It is 80° and thunderstorms are looming, but there is a rubber match to be had at 35th and Shields this afternoon.

Lance Lynn is looking to build on his May success and end the month winning five of his six starts. The right-handed pitcher threw six innings in Detroit on Friday. His ERA is still sitting at a hefty 5.83, but if he can limit damage from heavy hitters Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, he might be OK.

The key for Lynn this afternoon will be locating his pitches and limiting walks. The key for his defense will be to not extend innings. Keeping pitch count down should be everyone’s main goal today.

Starting for the Angels is Jaime Barría. It would appear this is a spot-start for the Los Angeles team, seeing as the righthander has appeared in 12 games this season but this will be only his second start. In 29 innings of work he has struck out 28, walked eight, and has a 1.55 ERA. His most prevalent pitch is a slider that he uses 52% of the time. With two strikes, right-handed batters will see this slider 71% of the time. Left-handed batters, which the White Sox do not have many of, will see a mixture between the changeup, four-seam fastball, and slider.

Things to note about this afternoon’s lineup include Yasmani Grandal back behind the plate and Gavin Sheets starting in right field. Andrew Benintendi is back in the 2-spot after spending last night batting seventh. Apparently, going 0-for-3 earns you a promotion up the order! Meanwhile, Romy González and his power surge remain in the bottom of the lineup.

Phil Nevin lines up his Angels below. Nothing to see here, just penciling in the two most dangerous hitters in the game at No. 2 and 3 every game.

First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. CT on NBCSC and ESPN 1000 radio.