Coming out of the All-Star break neck-and-neck with the Cleveland Guardians, the Chicago White Sox knew they had to hit the ground running. With two road series on deck against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers, winning each respective series was all that mattered and the White Sox did exactly that.
Thanks to a recent slip in form for the Guardians, the White Sox now hold a slim 1 1/2-game lead in the AL Central. With the Guardians having to face the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds on the road the next six games, the time is now for the White Sox, starting with this first game against the Houston Astros.
Another series win would likely keep their lead in the division before the big, bad New York Yankees come into town. With the Tampa Bay Rays and red-hot Boston Red Sox on deck after that, results are imperative here in this series.
The same goes for the Astros, who may not be benefiting from stealing signs any longer but are certainly taking advantage of an unusually weak AL West division. Although they come into this series with a 50-54 record, they somehow find themselves just two games out of first.
Looking to turn the tide of their poor season, the Astros turn to Spencer Arrighetti to toe the rubber tonight. Arrighetti started out the season as one of the best pitchers in the American League but has since fallen off a cliff. After jumping out to a blistering 7-1 record and an ERA of 1.34 in his first eight starts, Arrighetti has yet to record a single win since. He posted an ERA of nine in the month of June before “settling down” with an ERA of six in three starts so far this month.
Arrighetti excels at limiting hard hits, but that’s pretty much all he does well. Much like Vin Diesel, he’s mostly a one-trick pony. Arrighetti is simply average in every other metric that matters. As a matter of fact, he’s quite poor at getting batters to swing and miss, and with a fastball that sits slower than 93 miles per hour he can’t blow anybody away, either. As long as the White Sox stay disciplined and patient, they should have plenty of opportunities to score some runs tonight.
As for the White Sox, they have Davis Martin on the hill and it’s clear why he’s largely considered the team’s ace. His results have diminished as of late, with blowups against the Minnesota Twins, Yankees and Red Sox of late. With that being said, he’s been unfortunate to be without a win since June 10, with Davis having four starts since then allowing just two runs or less.
Martin excels at getting hitters to chase this year, which he’ll need to continue if he wants to have any chance against a player like Yordan Alvarez tonight. With Alvarez being the only qualified player on the Astros with an OPS better than .800 this season, if Martin can limit the damage he causes the White Sox should be able to take care of the Astros. Unfortunately, that’s a much easier task than it may seem on paper.
Here are the starting lineups for the Chicago White Sox:
Here are the starting lineups for the Houston Astros:
First pitch is 6:40 p.m. CST. You can watch on CHSN or listen on ESPN Chicago 1000. Let us know your thoughts and predictions below!
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