Gamethread: White Sox at Reds

The White Sox have shown some signs of life lately, winning three out of their last four games, but still have an abysmal overall record of 10-22. That’s bad enough for fourth place in arguably the worst division in baseball. That said, they are only eight games back of first, which still gives them a fighting chance to make up some ground in May, given a more reasonable schedule. The starting pitching has been significantly better, and the bullpen has had its moments of ... better.

Tonight at Great American Ball Park, they will face a Cincinnati Reds team that has also been struggling; however, they are currently sitting better than the Sox, at 13-18, and in fourth place in the National League Central.

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Prior to the game tonight, the South Siders made two announcements. One REALLY exciting one about Liam Hendriks and Yoán Moncada, and then there’s Joe Kelly.

Let’s see which version of Kelly we get. Hopefully, he’ll ride those new dad vibes.

Lance Lynn takes the bump for the Good Guys tonight, and unfortunately, he’s still looking for his first W of 2023. Sadly, his last outing, which was pretty stellar, was utterly wasted. After taking a no-hitter heading into the seventh, the Tampa Bay Rays scored 10 runs in the inning, four of which were charged to Lynn. Here’s hoping the 35-year-old righthander can build upon the last game and get better backup from the bullpen.

Historically, Lynn has pitched well against Cincinnati, going 11-4 over 21 games, running a 3.16 ERA with an opponent batting average of .225. Notable among the Reds starters, Jake Fraley is really the only one that has seen Lynn well; he has a .500 batting average with two hits in four at-bats. The Reds can expect to see a six-pitch mix from Lynn: 4-seam fastball (42.4%), cutter (26.8%), sinker (13.7%), curve (9.1%), changeup (7.3%), and sweeper (.7%).

Baseball Savant

Opposite the Big Bastard, the Reds will send young FIREBALLER Hunter Greene to the mound this evening, who is also seeking his first win of 2023. He is entering only his second major league season, both with Cincinnati. Greene struggled a bit in his rookie year, going 5-13 in 24 starts with a 4.44 ERA in 125 2⁄3 innings. The righthander has had a solid start so far in 2023, at 0-1 with a 2.89 ERA in 28 innings. No one on the current Sox roster has ever faced Greene, so hopefully, the analytics department did their homework. Greene relies on a three-pitch mix: 4-seam fastball (56.6%), slider (39.5%), and changeup (3.9%). That’s a lot of fastballs to feast on if the Pale Hose can lay off the sliders.

Baseball Savant

Here is how the White Sox will line them up tonight:

Here is tonight’s starting lineup for the Reds:

The game is a national broadcast tonight at 5:40 p.m. CST. Watch on Apple TV+ and listen in at ESPN-AM 1000.

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