Gamethread: Twins at White Sox

Happy Sunday, Sox fans. Usually I use an exclamation point but there’s not much to be excited about at this point. Anyway, the Chicago White Sox will play their final game this year against the Minnesota Twins this afternoon in an effort to avoid losing another series at home. Dylan Cease will be on the mound against Sonny Gray. Both pitchers have a 7-7 record, but have had slightly different years.

Cease has a 4.87 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in what could be considered an off-year for him, although it’s kind of an off-year for everyone, to put it nicely. He has 191 strikeouts in 159 innings pitched. His outings have been shorter as of late, and a problem we saw earlier in his career has reappeared a bit with a high pitch count problem and his walk rate up. His last outing was against the Kansas City Royals where he went 5 1⁄3 innings pitched with four hits, one run, and eight strikeouts, which was one of his better outings lately.

Gray has the fifth-best ERA in the league at 2.96, with a 1.19 WHIP and 165 strikeouts in 167 innings pitched. He has been a star, and a vital part of the Twins rotation this season, and could be in the conversation for the American League CY Young. His last outing against the Tampa Bay Rays was one of his shorter ones, as he went just four innings with six hits, one run, one walk, and five strikeouts. He uses a mix of six pitches, using his fastball the most at 26.8%. He follows with a sweeper (20.4%), curveball (17.1%), sinker (15.3%), cutter (13.7%), and changeup (6.7%).

Elvis Andrus will lead it off, followed by Andrew Benintendi in left and Andrew Vaughn at first base. Eloy Jiménez will DH and Gavin Sheets is in right field. Trayce Thompson takes center, Lenyn Sosa is at third base, and Zach Remillard is at second base. Korey Lee closes it out at catcher. No Tim Anderson or Luis Robert Jr. today.

Game time is at 1:10 p.m., CT, pending weather. Tarp is on the field right now but no decisions yet. Game is on NBCSCHI to watch and WGN Radio to listen. Time to watch the Bears and White Sox and question my dedication to Chicago sports.