Gamethread: Tigers at White Sox

It’s a beautiful day for baseball! Now if we can just see some beautiful baseball.

The White Sox yesterday managed to score as many runs as the rest of the AAAL Central combined. That would admittedly be more impressive if the number was more than three, and if they hadn’t first been no-hit for five innings on the major-league debut of a 23-year-old with a minor league ERA around seven. But you take your glory when you can these days.

On paper, the Sox should pick up a win today, because starter Dylan Cease has absolutely dominated the Tigers throughout his career, even before he got good, to the tune of a 10-1 record. The paper got smudged badly last Saturday, though, when Cease got the imperfect 4 x 4 — four hits, four walks, four earned runs in four innings. All of the runs came on an Akil Badoo grand slam, but against any other team except Oakland it could have been 10 runs, because Dylan had little idea where the ball was going — witness taking 102 pitches to get through those four innings.

Still, Detroit was scoring fewer runs than any team in the majors (we don’t count Oakland as in the majors) even before losing their best hitter, Riley Greene, to the IL this week. So Cease has a good chance to snap back to form.

Tossing for the Tigers is MIchael Lorenzen, one of the only two members of their starting rotation not on the IL, who held the White Sox to two unearned runs on two hits and one walk on Sunday. The veteran righty had a really strong May, with four games of one or fewer earned runs and a bizarrely bad five-run appearance against the Royals, of all people.

Lorenzen will face a White Sox lineup that has Eloy Jiménez as the sacrificial right fielder this time and Elvis Andrus back at second base.

Cease faces a Tigers group that has Javy Báez in the second slot. Baez is only 3-for-18 lifetime against Cease, but two of the three were dingers. Jonathan Schoop, who hits Cease well (8-for-25), is down in the eighth slot.

The forecast calls for a mostly sunny 78° at game time, with light winds from left to right. Usual broadcast suspects.