Gamethread: Brewers at White Sox

Your Chicago White Sox welcome the Milwaukee Brewers to the South Side for a three-game weekend set at Sox Park. The Brew Crew (62-54, five up and five down in their last 10) come to town scuffling a bit, but still lead the NL Central by 2 1⁄2 games over the Reds and Cubs. The Sox (47-69, four up and six down in their last 10) managed to win their last two series despite a thoroughly embarrassing week for the team and the organization both on and off the field.

Here are tonight’s pitching probables:

The Brewers send Corbin Burnes to the bump in the series opener. For those not familiar with Milwaukee’s ace, Burnes features a cutter-heavy, five-pitch mix:

Burnes has been very good in his career against current White Sox hitters, with a batting average against of only .217, allowing a meager .348 slugging percentage, with a 32% K-rate.

For a White Sox team dead last in MLB in OBP, and near-bottom in slugging percentage, OPS, and OPS+, this one might not be too pretty for the home team.

The Sox send out struggling “starter” Michael Kopech, he of a 5-10 record, a 4.43 ERA, and 1.43 WHIP. The good news is that Milwaukee hitters only have a total of 18 plate appearances against Kopech, most of which come from new Brewers additions Carlos Santana and Mark Canha. So there is that, at least.

Kopech is essentially a two-pitch pitcher, mixing in his tertiary offerings less than 12% of the time:

Here is tonight’s lineup for the home team:

And for the visitors:

While the White Sox season jumped the shark months ago, the Brewers still have a shot to win the NL Central. Can the Sox play spoiler for the visiting playoff hopefuls this weekend? Or will the Brew Crew finally assert themselves as the best team in the mediocre NL Central? Tune in to find out!

First pitch tonight is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CT. NBC Sports Chicago will have the TV call with WMVP-AM 1000 on radio.