How to Watch Saturday's Day Game Between Rays, White Sox; Lineups, Nuggets, Pregame Chatter

CHICAGO, Ill. — The sun is shining and it looks like a beautiful day for baseball here in Chicago, where the Tampa Bay Rays are set to square off with the Chicago White Sox for the second straight day.

The Rays, who have lost four of five, are turning to veteran pitcher Corey Kluber to help end the skid. He was solid in his first start last Sunday, pitching 4 2/3 scoreless innings in the 8-0 win over Baltimore.

The Rays have been struggling to score runs during this losing skid, being held to three runs or less in all four losses. Outside of Wander Franco and Ji-Man Choi, the Rays are hitting just .209 as a team.

It's too early to panic, of course, but a turnaround sometime soon would be nice.

"I think ultimately we didn't looked locked in (Friday) night because Dylan Cease was really good and they have a lot of great arms in their bullpen,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "You're not going to see much better stuff than that. We've seen that on our end before, when our pitchers have been elite and shut people down. We've done that.

"Ideally, some early runs (would help). It seems like every game we've been falling behind 3-0. We've got to do a better job of giving our pitchers something to work with. I'm very confident and we are being patient, because we know this is a good team. Offensively, I have zero concern. I'll let you know when it becomes a concern.''

Wander Franco is at DH on Saturday, his first game not starting at shortstop. "Just getting him off of his legs, especially with a day game after a night game,'' Cash said. Taylor Walls gets the start at short.

The White Sox are 5-2 so far, leading the American League Central and posting the best record in the AL so far.

Here's all the pregame details you need on Friday night's game between the Rays and the White Sox

How to watch Rays vs. White Sox

Who: Tampa Bay Rays (4-4) at Chicago White Sox (5-2)
When: 2:10 p.m. ET, Saturday, April 16
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago, Ill.
TV: Bally Sports Sun
Stream: Fubo.tv CLICK HERE
Announcers: Dewayne Staats (play-by-play), Brian Anderson (color commentary) and Tricia Whitaker (in-game reporter).
Radio: WDAE 95.3 FM; SiriusXM Channel 175 (White Sox broadcast, Rays broadcast online)
Announcers: Andy Freed and Dave Wills.
Latest Line: Chicago is favored at minus-138 on the money line according to the SISportsbook.com website opening line as of Friday morning morning. Tampa Bay is plus-115. The over/under is 8.5.

Rays-White Sox history

Rays vs. White Sox all-time series history: Chicago holds a 92-76 edge over Tampa Bay in the regular season series dating back to 1998. Chicago is 48-35 at home. The season series went 3-3 a year ago, with the home team going 2-1. The two teams have met in the playoffs once, in the Rays' first-ever postseason series in 2008. The Rays won 3-1, winning the first two games at home before losing Game 3 in Chicago and clinching in Game 4.

Rays-White Sox most recent games

Rays-White Sox last meeting: Chicago won the series opener 3-2 on Friday night behind a dominant start right-hander Dylan Cease. Third baseman Jake Burger hit a home run for the White Sox in the second inning, and also drove in a run with a single in the fifth inning. Drew Rasmussen took the loss for the Rays, who had just six hits on the night and were just 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Projected starting pitchers

Rays right-hander Corey Kluber: Corey Kluber makes his second start of the season for the Rays on Saturday. He pitched last Sunday in the Rays' 8-0 win over the Orioles, going 4 2/3 scoreless innings. The two-time Cy Young Award winner (2014, 2017) has had a great career, mostly in Cleveland. His 3.18 career ERA ranks fifth among active pitchers with 1,000 innings or more, trailing only Clayton Kershaw (2.48), Jacob deGrom (2.50), Chris Sale (3.03 and Max Scherzer (3.16).
White Sox right-hander Michael Kopech: Michael Kopech is one of the young arms the White Sox are high on, and he's going to be a challenge for Rays' hitters, too. The hard-throwing right-hander pitched four innings in his debut last week, and allowed just one run and two hits in Chicago's 10-1 win at Detroit. He made his major-league debut in 2018, but underwent elbow surgery and didn't pitch at all in 2019 and 2020. The White Sox used him out of the bullpen mostly last year to keep his innings count down. He appeared in 44 games with four starts and had a 4-3 record with a 3.50 ERA. He struck out 103 batters in 69 1/3 innings.

Projected lineups

Rays lineup: Brandon Lowe 2B, Wander Franco DH, Randy Arozarena LF, Harold Ramirez 1B, Yandy Diaz 3B, Manuel Margot RF, Brett Phillips CF, Mike Zunino C. Tayler Walls SS. Corey Kluber P.
White Sox lineup: Tim Anderson SS, Luis Robert CF, Jose Abreu 1B, Yasmani Grandal C, Eloy Jiminez LF, Leury Garcia 2B, Josh Harrison 3B, Reese McGuire C Andrew Vaughn RF, Michael Kopech P.

Newsy nuggets

Nugget No. 1: The Rays fell out of first place on Friday night, and are a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. It's the first time since July 30 a year ago that they didn't have at least a share of the division lead. The
Nugget No. 2: Friday night's loss was the first road game of the year. It's a good time to remember that the Rays were terrific on the road a year ago. They went 48-33 away from home, a .593 winning percentage that was the best in the American League and third-best in baseball behind only the San Francisco Giants (53-28) and Milwaukee Brewers (50-31).
Nugget No. 3: Pitching in the American League Central with Cleveland all those years, Rays starter Corey Kluber is very familiar with the White Sox. He is 13-5 all-time against them with an impressive 2.96 ERA in 25 appearances, 24 of them starts. He's been really good in Chicago, too. He's 6-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field with a 2.58 ERA.
Nugget No. 4: White Sox third baseman Josh Harrison has missed a couple of games with a back injury, but he is back in the Chicago lineup on Saturday. “A little unfortunate, but that’s a part of baseball, a part of what we do,” Harrison said Friday, referring to the injury. “We’ve got a deep team. Better safe than sorry. I’d rather (it be) a day or two thing as opposed to something being extended. We have a good team, and that’s what good teams do — we rely on each other.”