Gamethread: White Sox at Braves

One of these teams has the best record in baseball, and one of them does not. The White Sox (38-55) are the latter, while Atlanta (61-29) has spent all season taking down one MLB team after the other.

Tonight’s goal for the White Sox is to not get shut out. You’d think this would be easy, but if you have watched any amount of South Side baseball this season, you would know it’s not. Lance Lynn is in charge of curbing the Atlanta offense this evening. A solid outing tonight surely would increase his trade value as the deadline approaches.

The righthander is currently 5-8 with a 6.03 ERA with 127 strikeouts over 103 innings this season. His last start before the All-Star break was against the Blue Jays, where he gave up just one hit over seven innings of work, striking out 11 and walking one. Because he plays for the White Sox, he left that start with a no-decision. Lynn has built his career on throwing fastballs, though this season it appears he is mixing in more breaking pitches. His four-seam fastball use in two-strike counts (40.8%) is the lowest it has been since 2017.

Opposite of Lynn this evening is Atlanta’s own mustache man, Spencer Strider. The righty, in his sophomore season, is 11-2 with a 3.44 ERA. He has struck out 166 batters over his 104 2⁄3 innings of work this season. Strider had a less-than-ideal 5.46 ERA in June even though he went 4-0. He seems to be back on track this month, giving up just three runs over 13 innings in his two starts of July. He will look to lead his team to a league-high 62 wins at The Battery.

Trying to crack the code of Strider tonight is the mighty lineup Pedro Grifol has put together. The usual suspects are in the top of the order, even if they probably shouldn’t be. The bottom of the lineup is becoming more automatic with Zach Remillard, Oscar Colás, and Seby Zalvala batting 7-8-9.

Brian Snitker is hoping to sit back and relax while his power-filled lineup takes at-bats.

Tonight’s game is bring nationally broadcast on FOX, and can be listened to locally on ESPN 1000. First pitch is at 6:15 p.m. CST.