The White Sox are coming off a wild, late-night win on Monday, defeating the Angels after a long three-hour rain delay, with the game not ending until the wee hours of this morning. Ideally, for today, we can hope that the weather is much better, the game ends at a normal time, and that there’s a lot less chaos — we will most certainly still take the win, however.
We’ll likely have a pitching duel on our hands tonight, with José Soriano making his sixth start of the season for Los Angeles, and Davis
Martin taking the mound for the South Siders. Both have been excellent for their respective teams this season; Soriano ranks first and Martin fifth in all of baseball in Win Probability Added (WPA), highlighting how effective they’ve been since the season start. There’s still a lot of games left to play, though Soriano is already making a case for a Cy Young award, only allowing one run thus far at a 0.24 ERA in (37 2/3 innings with a 100% left-on-base percentage (LOB%). He is also much more of a strikeout pitcher than Martin (30.7% K%), though Soriano is walking batters at a higher rate (9.3%), whereas Davis is sitting at a respectable 5.9% walk rate.
Martin also ranks sixth among MLB starting pitchers in terms of ERA (2.04), and his 1.02 WHIP is very favorable, and he’s been the most efficient Chicago starter this season with three wins. One thing both pitchers have in common, however, is that they have a much higher (but still elite) FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) compared to their ERA. This basically means they could be outperforming expectations of where they would “typically” be, or they could be experiencing better “luck.” However, Soriano’s .205 BABIP ranks fifth in MLB, so he has definitely been efficient at keeping runners off the bases.
Tonight’s lineup looks nearly identical to Monday’s; however, Chase Meidroth has the off day, while Sam Antonacci shifts back into the infield to take over second base. Andrew Benintendi continues to hold down the leadoff spot, and it’s hard to blame Will Venable for this, considering Benintendi ranks ninth in MLB for leadoff position batting average (.282) among qualified hitters (30 or more at-bats).
The one-two punch that comes from Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas, who both homered again last night, with Mune now the sole leader in home runs after blasting the South Siders to a win yesterday.
Chicago White Sox Starting Lineup
The legendary Mike Trout will bat second for the Angels, holding the top OPS on the team while ranking seventh in baseball (.975), and tied for sixth in homers with nine.
Los Angeles Angels Starting Lineup
First pitch will (actually) take place at 6:40 p.m. CT on the South Side. Tune in to CHSN for the TV broadcast, and to ESPN Chicago AM 1000 for the radio broadcast. How about two in a row and a series win?
