Gamethread: White Sox at Braves

Happy Sunday! Today, the Chicago White Sox will play their final game against the Atlanta Braves, as the series is split at one game apiece. The White Sox had a great game yesterday to hold on for the victory against the red-hot Braves, so having a good performance today would be the icing on the cake. What better way to do it than with Dylan Cease on the mound, in his home state? He will go against lefty Kolby Allard.

Cease is currently not having the year he wants but his potential for an ace effort is always there. He is 3-3 with a 4.30 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. He has 123 strikeouts in 102 2⁄3 innings pitched. His last outing against the St. Louis Cardinals wasn’t his best, as he went six innings with 11 hits, five runs, and eight strikeouts.

Allard will be on the mound for the Braves, a former first-rounder who is only making his fourth appearance after starting the year on the IL and being activated at the end of June. He was traded in the offseason by the Texas Rangers, but was actually drafted by the Braves in 2015. He has a 4.22 ERA and 1.13 WHIP on the season, and his last outing was as a relief pitcher against the Tampa Bay Rays where he went one inning with two hits, two runs, one walk, and one strikeout.

Andrew Benintendi will lead it off followed by Tim Anderson and Luis Robert Jr. Eloy Jiménez is in right field, Andrew Vaughn is at first base, and Jake Burger will take the other corner at third. Yasmani Grandal is in the DH spot, Elvis Andrus gets the day at second, and Seby Zavala closes it out at catcher.

Game time is at 12:35 p.m. CT. Tune in to NBCSCHI to watch and ESPN 1000 to listen.