Gamethread: White Sox at Twins
Archaeologists claim this is a Pompeii man who made a poor decision about trying to catch a souvenir from Vesuvius, not the White Sox last night. Fans may disagree.
One of the nice things about being crushed in a sporting contest, as opposed to, say, a volcanic eruption, is that you get to start all over again the next game. That's a lucky thing for the Chicago White Sox.
The Sox go with their best for today's nooner in Minnesota, as Lucas Giolito tries for win number 14. Giolito's prior starts against the Twins have both been -ful ... one master-, the other aw-.
On June 30, Cool Hand Lucas tossed five innings of one-hit, no run, no walk, four-K ball, getting the win in a 4-3 Sox victory. But on July 25, Chevy Gio was as crushed as the gentleman from Pompeii above, giving up seven earned in five innings, including three homers (in just five innings, mind you) to Nelson Cruz and another to Max Kepler. Giolito has had all very fine starts since then, so there's good reason to expect it will be Cool Hand in the hot sun this afternoon.
Giolito will be facing another 13-game winner, righty Jake Odorizzi. Odorizzi dominated the Sox the only time he's faced them this year, matching Gio's first time vs. the Twinkies, going 5 1/3 inning of one hit, one walk, nine-K ball. He was an out short of a quality start against Texas last time out, but hasn't had a bad game since getting pummeled by the Yankees July 24.
Since neither team needed to use its good relievers in last night's debacle, we'll probably see the best of the pens once the starters leave. That should mean a low-scoring game, but, hey — this is baseball. And the last two games have shown that anything squirrely can happen.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1163999359710744581
Matt Skole moves up in the Sox lineup.
Oddly enough, Cruz will bat third for the Twins.
First pitch is at 12:10 CDT on an absolutely perfect day for baseball in Minneapolis, 73 degrees and no chance of rain (or snow). NBC Sports on the idiot box, WGN 720 on the boombox.