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The Guardians, sitting at 4-5 after getting swept by the Giants, take on the White Sox for a four-game series at home. The Giants’ pitching staff cooled off the G’s bats but that was probably to be expected.
San Francisco’s starting pitchers have allowed two or fewer runs in each of the club’s first nine games for the first time since at least 1901…
And their bullpen was pretty damn good, too.
Things don’t get much easier as the White Sox (6-3) rank 8th in the majors in team ERA at 3.24. They miss a lot of bats, ranking 2nd in the majors in K’s per 9 innings and 5th in HR’s per 9. However, they tend to walk hitters as they rank 25th in walks per 9. Combining hits and walks they rank 11th.
Offensively they haven’t gotten going yet, averaging 4.22 runs per game as opposed to 4.90 last year. They don’t get on base much, ranking 3rd from the bottom in OBP. But they make up for it with power, ranking 9th in home runs and 14th in slugging percentage. Overall they are 15th in runs per game. Last year they were 6th despite Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez missing a lot of time.
SS Tim Anderson is off to a great start, hitting .393 and DH Andrew Vaughn is hitting .348/1.052. But most of their hitters are well below their norms, including Abreu, Robert, Jimenez, Grandal, Sheets, Harrison, and Leury Garcia. Take away Anderson and Vaughn and the rest of the team is hitting .198.
So far their pitching is carrying them as three of their six wins have come by identical scores of 3-2.
LHP Dallas Keuchel, 34, gets the start tonight. In his first start he allowed 3 ER’s in 5 innings. Last year his road ERA was 5.75 and in three starts against the Indians his ERA was 6.61. The Tribe hit only .203 off him but he gave up four dingers in 16 innings and allowed a batting average of .322 with runners on base. Clearly the key is to get on and make him pitch from the stretch.
Current Guardians have a career line of .261/.905 against Keuchel. Amed Rosario is hitting .375 off him and Jose is hitting .318. Keuchel is a soft-tossing lefty; his fastball has averaged about 89 mph for the last six years and he only throws it 31% of the time. The more hitters see of it the better they do - the first three times through the batting order last year hitters batted .269, .298, and .321 against him. Last year he averaged 5.4 innings per start.
Tristan McKenzie starts for the G’s. In two appearances he has allowed 2 runs in 7 innings. The White Sox pounded him last year; in five starts against them his ERA was 11.21. His biggest problem was walks, allowing 14 in 17 innings along with 5 home runs.
Players currently on the White Sox are only hitting .181 against McKenzie, but the on-base percentage is .388 due to the excessive walks. So far this year the White Sox rank last in MLB with only 2.11 walks per game and they’re 2nd highest in strikeouts per game. This is a very aggressive group of hitters that goes for the long ball and isn’t interested in working walks. That should play into McKenzie’s hands.
The Guardians need to get back on track and what better team to do it against than the team that finished in first place in the A.L. Central by 13 games last year and is currently in first place with the only winning record in the division.
The White Sox lost Carlos Rodon (13-6 last year) to free agency. Lance Lynn (11-6 last year) is out with a knee injury. Lucas Giolito (11-9 last year) is on the 10-day. Despite being down three of their top four starters from last year they’re still 6-3 and their staff is 8th in ERA. These guys should be even better when they get Lynn and Giolito back. This is a good time to get them for a four game series with their top two starters down.
San Francisco’s starting pitchers have allowed two or fewer runs in each of the club’s first nine games for the first time since at least 1901…
And their bullpen was pretty damn good, too.
Things don’t get much easier as the White Sox (6-3) rank 8th in the majors in team ERA at 3.24. They miss a lot of bats, ranking 2nd in the majors in K’s per 9 innings and 5th in HR’s per 9. However, they tend to walk hitters as they rank 25th in walks per 9. Combining hits and walks they rank 11th.
Offensively they haven’t gotten going yet, averaging 4.22 runs per game as opposed to 4.90 last year. They don’t get on base much, ranking 3rd from the bottom in OBP. But they make up for it with power, ranking 9th in home runs and 14th in slugging percentage. Overall they are 15th in runs per game. Last year they were 6th despite Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez missing a lot of time.
SS Tim Anderson is off to a great start, hitting .393 and DH Andrew Vaughn is hitting .348/1.052. But most of their hitters are well below their norms, including Abreu, Robert, Jimenez, Grandal, Sheets, Harrison, and Leury Garcia. Take away Anderson and Vaughn and the rest of the team is hitting .198.
So far their pitching is carrying them as three of their six wins have come by identical scores of 3-2.
LHP Dallas Keuchel, 34, gets the start tonight. In his first start he allowed 3 ER’s in 5 innings. Last year his road ERA was 5.75 and in three starts against the Indians his ERA was 6.61. The Tribe hit only .203 off him but he gave up four dingers in 16 innings and allowed a batting average of .322 with runners on base. Clearly the key is to get on and make him pitch from the stretch.
Current Guardians have a career line of .261/.905 against Keuchel. Amed Rosario is hitting .375 off him and Jose is hitting .318. Keuchel is a soft-tossing lefty; his fastball has averaged about 89 mph for the last six years and he only throws it 31% of the time. The more hitters see of it the better they do - the first three times through the batting order last year hitters batted .269, .298, and .321 against him. Last year he averaged 5.4 innings per start.
Tristan McKenzie starts for the G’s. In two appearances he has allowed 2 runs in 7 innings. The White Sox pounded him last year; in five starts against them his ERA was 11.21. His biggest problem was walks, allowing 14 in 17 innings along with 5 home runs.
Players currently on the White Sox are only hitting .181 against McKenzie, but the on-base percentage is .388 due to the excessive walks. So far this year the White Sox rank last in MLB with only 2.11 walks per game and they’re 2nd highest in strikeouts per game. This is a very aggressive group of hitters that goes for the long ball and isn’t interested in working walks. That should play into McKenzie’s hands.
The Guardians need to get back on track and what better team to do it against than the team that finished in first place in the A.L. Central by 13 games last year and is currently in first place with the only winning record in the division.
The White Sox lost Carlos Rodon (13-6 last year) to free agency. Lance Lynn (11-6 last year) is out with a knee injury. Lucas Giolito (11-9 last year) is on the 10-day. Despite being down three of their top four starters from last year they’re still 6-3 and their staff is 8th in ERA. These guys should be even better when they get Lynn and Giolito back. This is a good time to get them for a four game series with their top two starters down.
