RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesMunetaka Murakami owns a 1.006 OPS with four home runs in the past two weeks, and is batting second tonight. | (Mike Carlson/Getty Images)
Both the White and Red Sox were active at Monday’s trade deadline as they chase their respective division titles. A three-game set on the road in Boston will be a good test for the South Siders against high-quality competition in a tough atmosphere away from home, giving a taste of what the playoffs could potentially be like down the line.
To make room for the newly acquired players from the trade deadline, the White Sox made seven corresponding moves to the 40-man and 26-man rosters today, with Edgar Quero and left-handed reliever Tyler Schweitzer optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.
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Catcher Joey Bart and outfielder Brenton Doyle will make their White Sox debuts tonight, batting sixth and seventh in the lineup as Will Venable leverages a righty-heavy batting order against a left-handed pitcher. The good news is that the Sox have (likely) their three best pitchers tossing throughout the series, with righthander Davis Martin being tapped first. Martin is making his 22nd start of the season, and while he hasn’t been as dominant as the first half, he’s maintained a 3.62 ERA — the 13th-best in the AL — with a 9-5 record on the year. Martin leans on his fastball the most, but his off-speed pitches are producing lower opponent batting averages, with his curveball leading the way with a .163 opponent BA and a 40.4% whiff rate.
Martin will have plenty of power to support him throughout the lineup. However, the bottom half of the order is a bit of a wild card outside of Braden Montgomery, given these will be Bart and Doyle’s first at-bats for Chicago, and Luisangel Acuña is pretty much always a question mark. To be fair, Acuña is batting .352 over his last 54 at-bats, but he’s been cooling down in his last seven, only going two for his last 13 (.154). If we’re lucky, maybe someone will blast a moon shot over the big Green Monster.
Chicago White Sox Lineup
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The White Sox offense will go against lefthander Patrick Sandoval, who has only started four games since returning from injury about a month ago. In his 19 innings, he’s posted a 3.32 ERA, but his 1.579 WHIP could definitely use some work. Sandoval hasn’t walked many batters, holding a 7% walk rate, but he’s allowed 24 hits thus far, contributing to his elevated WHIP. The lefty seems to leverage his slider the most, 31.2% of the time, but opponents are batting .300 against it. In contrast, his changeup seems to be the more unhittable pitch, holding just a .130 opponent BA and slugging percentage while drawing a 36% whiff rate.
Thankfully for Sandoval, Ceddanne Rafaela is adding some strength at the top of the order, as he has been one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball these last couple of weeks. In the past 15 days (12 games), Rafaela holds the fourth-best OPS (1.134), the second-best SLG (.788), and has mashed seven homers in his last 12 games, the most in MLB during that time span. Though he’s batting eighth for Boston tonight, Andruw Monasterio has also been hot these past two weeks, boasting a .935 OPS with a .342/.409/.526 slash line. The Red Sox could make Martin work tonight, but ideally, he’s on his game and is up for the challenge.
Boston Red Sox Lineup
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Since the Good Guys are on the East Coast, game time is a bit earlier this week, with first pitch taking place at 6:10 p.m. CT. It should be a nice summer evening, with temperatures expected to be in the low-80s to upper-70s throughout the game. Tune into CHSN or ESPN Chicago AM 1000 on the radio, and let’s get a White Sox W.
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