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After the worst road trip in years, going 1-6 against the 4th and 5th place teams in their division, the G’s return home for four games in three days against the White Sox, who they lead by one-half game. The Guardians are 4-1 against the Sox this year. The Sox are 22-18 on the road while the Guardians are 20-17 at home so it looks like two evenly matched teams.
The Sox started 11-13 and have since gone 30-30. The Guardians were 5-5, 14-14, 25-25, and now 41-42. Two mediocre teams in a weak division with only one team over .500.
The Sox rank 20th in runs per game despite ranking 5th in batting average. The main reason is they are dead last in drawing walks. This is a free swinging bunch and the Guardian pitchers should try and make them chase.
The Sox rank 26th of 30 in home runs per game, 22nd in slugging percentage, and 20th in stolen bases per game. Not a lot of power, speed, or plate discipline, but they do get hits. The key is to not let them string hits together.
The Sox hit lefties much better than righties (.286/.796 versus .248/.665). That bodes well for the G’s since they will start Quantrill, Bieber, and Civale. I’m assuming Pilkington will start one of the doubleheader games tomorrow so that will be a tough one to win.
Lance Lynn, a 35-year-old right-hander, makes his sixth start of the season tonight after returning from injury. He is 1-1, 5.33. Lefties are hitting .327/.889 against him. I think he missed a lot of spring training so he’s still trying to find his groove. With runners on base opponents are hitting .361/1.038 against him, so the key is to put him in the stretch. However, he knows how to bear down and escape jams as batters are hitting just .222 with RISP and .182 with RISP and two out. Getting on base and clutch hitting will be key, along with stacking the batting order with lefties.
Jose is 6-for-17 with three home runs against Lynn.
Lynn is listed at 6'5", 280. Between him and Abreu you do not want to start any fights with this team. If you get hit, say thank you very much and take your base.
Quantrill is coming off one of his worst starts of the season as he allowed 8 hits and 2 walks against the Tigers in 4.1 innings. In May he allowed 4 runs in 6.1 innings against the Sox. Luis Robert is 4-for-8 against him.
Looking at the WAR of White Sox players, Abreu leads with 2.3 followed by Tim Anderson at 1.8 and Robert at 1.7. Nobody else is higher than 0.7 so three players have pretty much been carrying them. Fortunately they all hit right-handed which explains why the Sox are so much better against left-handed pitching.
With the Guardians having five right-handers in their rotation (except on double-header days) they match up well against the Sox, who are hitting only .193/.547 against the G’s in five games, resulting in a 1-4 record.
Hopefully Quantrill will bounce back tonight while Lynn will continue to get hit hard by lefties and we’ll start off with a win. The marquee pitching matchup will be Bieber against Cease tomorrow unless they pitch in different games. Then it’s Giolito (2-3, 5.30) against Civale in the finale.
Congratulations to Jose on his fourth All-Star selection and to our rookie All-Stars Gimenez and Clase. Hopefully we can find some useful work for Clase over the next three days.
The Sox started 11-13 and have since gone 30-30. The Guardians were 5-5, 14-14, 25-25, and now 41-42. Two mediocre teams in a weak division with only one team over .500.
The Sox rank 20th in runs per game despite ranking 5th in batting average. The main reason is they are dead last in drawing walks. This is a free swinging bunch and the Guardian pitchers should try and make them chase.
The Sox rank 26th of 30 in home runs per game, 22nd in slugging percentage, and 20th in stolen bases per game. Not a lot of power, speed, or plate discipline, but they do get hits. The key is to not let them string hits together.
The Sox hit lefties much better than righties (.286/.796 versus .248/.665). That bodes well for the G’s since they will start Quantrill, Bieber, and Civale. I’m assuming Pilkington will start one of the doubleheader games tomorrow so that will be a tough one to win.
Lance Lynn, a 35-year-old right-hander, makes his sixth start of the season tonight after returning from injury. He is 1-1, 5.33. Lefties are hitting .327/.889 against him. I think he missed a lot of spring training so he’s still trying to find his groove. With runners on base opponents are hitting .361/1.038 against him, so the key is to put him in the stretch. However, he knows how to bear down and escape jams as batters are hitting just .222 with RISP and .182 with RISP and two out. Getting on base and clutch hitting will be key, along with stacking the batting order with lefties.
Jose is 6-for-17 with three home runs against Lynn.
Lynn is listed at 6'5", 280. Between him and Abreu you do not want to start any fights with this team. If you get hit, say thank you very much and take your base.
Quantrill is coming off one of his worst starts of the season as he allowed 8 hits and 2 walks against the Tigers in 4.1 innings. In May he allowed 4 runs in 6.1 innings against the Sox. Luis Robert is 4-for-8 against him.
Looking at the WAR of White Sox players, Abreu leads with 2.3 followed by Tim Anderson at 1.8 and Robert at 1.7. Nobody else is higher than 0.7 so three players have pretty much been carrying them. Fortunately they all hit right-handed which explains why the Sox are so much better against left-handed pitching.
With the Guardians having five right-handers in their rotation (except on double-header days) they match up well against the Sox, who are hitting only .193/.547 against the G’s in five games, resulting in a 1-4 record.
Hopefully Quantrill will bounce back tonight while Lynn will continue to get hit hard by lefties and we’ll start off with a win. The marquee pitching matchup will be Bieber against Cease tomorrow unless they pitch in different games. Then it’s Giolito (2-3, 5.30) against Civale in the finale.
Congratulations to Jose on his fourth All-Star selection and to our rookie All-Stars Gimenez and Clase. Hopefully we can find some useful work for Clase over the next three days.
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