Gamethread: Diamondbacks at White Sox

It’s looking like Mother Nature has decided to let the Diamondbacks march on toward a Wild Card slot, and the White Sox stumble on toward 100 losses. The forecast of heavy rain all day has been reduced to just occasional showers, so unless there’s another surprise, the game should get in.

That means Luis Patiño will get his first start with the White Sox, who picked him up from Tampa Bay in August. Patiño’s tossed 13 innings in five relief appearances this month and was a starter in previous years, so he may be more than just an opener. The 23-year-old Colombian righty has only given up four earned runs in those appearances, but he’s also issued 10 walks, so he fits right in on the White Sox staff.

The Diamondbacks will counter with Brandon Pfaadt, who has managed to have a 2-9 record despite pitching for a winning team. His 6.08 ERA helps explain that, but the Arizona pitcher Tuesday night had an even higher ERA, and the White Sox managed to lose the game by 11 runs, so Pfaadt’s bad stats may not mean all that much. Still, he causes few ground balls hit, so there is dinger hope.

Speaking of dingers, Eloy Jiménez, who went deep last night as he tries to make up for Luis Robert’s absence (offensively — Eloy in center would provide some much-needed humor), is back in the clean-up slot. Tim Anderson is off.

Patiño will face an Arizona lineup that’s the same as the one that scored 15 runs last night. The Sox will have to hope they’re all exhausted from running around the bases so much.

The first pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. Central, with now just a 19% chance of rain and temps in the mid-60s — usual broadcast suspects.