Gamethread: Guardians at White Sox

Happy Sunday! Today the Chicago White Sox, who have won two in a row after trading five of their pitchers, will play the Cleveland Guardians in the finale of this four-game set as they try to secure a series win. After an explosive offense last night and the short-handed pitching staff holding the Guardians to just two runs in the last two games, we will see what Michael Kopech can do on the mound against Aaron Civale.

Kopech is 4-9 on the season with a 4.44 ERA and 1.42 WHIP, and has had a bit of an up-and-down season due to injuries and control issues. In his last game against the Chicago Cubs he had nine hits, four runs, one walk, and five strikeouts in five innings of work. Most of his outings this year have been no deeper than five or six innings, so we will see what today brings.

Civale is on the mound for the Guardians, 4-2 on the season with a 2.54 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. His last game against the Kansas City Royals was very good, as he went eight innings with five hits, one run, two walks, and five strikeouts. He relies on six pitches, using his cutter the most, at 39% of the time. He follows with a curveball (25.3%), sinker (16.4%), fastball (12.8%), slider (4.9%), and splitter (1.5%).

Tim Anderson will stay in the leadoff spot after his first home run of the year last night (which I was in attendance for!). Yoán Moncada is back in the 2-spot, and Luis Robert Jr. is batting third and playing center field. Andrew Vaughn is at first base, Andrew Benintendi moves down to fifth in the order, and Jake Burger will follow at DH. Oscar Colás is in right, Elvis Andrus is at second, and Seby Zavala will close it out behind the plate.

Cleveland is so depressed having lost two of three to a depleted White Sox team that they’ve given up tweeting altogether, so here’s their prospective lineup:

Game time is at 1:10 p.m. CT, and you can watch on NBCSCHI or listen in at ESPN 1000.