SERIES PREVIEWS
Series Preview: Pirates vs. White Sox
White Sox vs. Pirates begins Friday night at 7:10pm at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Well… the schedule says that the White Sox have to keep playing baseball. Next Up: The Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pirates have been middle-of-the-pack in the NL Central all year, and are currently 8.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.
Meanwhile… well, you know where the White Sox have been, I don’t have to remind you.
But.
The Pirates are just 5-5 over their last 10 games and have allowed 93 runs in that span, second-most in MLB. They’ve allowed double figures four times in those eight losses and just got trounced 9-0 by the Brewers on Wednesday.
Maybe the White Sox bullpen can hold a game this weekend at home.
Pitching Matchups
Friday: Garrett Crochet, LHP (6-6, 3.08 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 2.43 FIP) vs. TBD
Saturday: Chris Flexen, RHP (2-7, 4.95 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 5.14 FIP) vs. Luis L. Ortiz, RHP (4-2, 2.95 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 3.19 FIP)
Sunday: TBD vs. Mitch Keller, RHP (10-5, 3.40 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 3.65 FIP)
Where to Watch
Friday: 7:10 pm CDT, NBC Sports Chicago
Saturday: 1:10 pm CDT, NBC Sports Chicago
Sunday: 1:10 pm CDT, NBC Sports Chicago
At the Ballpark
Friday: Post-game Fireworks
Saturday: Throwback Jersey Vest
Sunday: Family Sundays
Fun Fact
The White Sox have played the Pirates 45 times and have a 24-21 record. Pittsburgh swept the first-ever series – which was 3 games – between the two teams in June/July 1997.
In the first game of that series, the White Sox’s lone run came in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Frank Thomas, scoring Ray Durham. The Sox went on to lose that game 3-1. Danny Darwin took the loss, giving up 3 ER on 9 hits (2 HR) over 7.0 innings.
Prediction
The Pirates currently sit in third place in the NL Central at 45-48 and are coming off a pedestrian 5-5 stretch over their last 10 games.
That said, the Pirates are a .500 team – the White Sox are… not. I’m not going out on any limbs here, predicting that the White Sox win 1 game of this series – Friday, with Crochet on the bump.
Poll
Up Next
The All-Star break kicks off on Monday, starting with the Homerun Derby at 7:00 pm CDT. The All-Star game itself will be played at 7:00 pm CDT on Tuesday.
The White Sox resume play next Friday (7/17) with a 3-game set against the Royals in Kansas City.
Welp – the first one didn’t go great.
No, it did not.
A series for the ages…