Most of the attention of White Sox fans may be on the draft this afternoon, but there’s also the small matter of playing a game. And it’s even a game that will be followed by a geriatric home run derby.
On the field, it will be lefty Bryan Hudson opening for the Sox, a role he played twice last month with mixed results, though his overall results have been excellent, with a 2.25 ERA. Hudson will presumably be followed by Erick Fedde, who has a mediocre 4.34 ERA and gave up six runs, five of them earned,
in 10 1/3 innings against the Orioles and Guardians in his last two outings.
The A’s counter with rookie lefty Gage Jump, who has been the only less-than-awful starter on a squad that is either the very worst or next to worst in MLB, depending on what stat you prefer. Jump has a respectable 3.77 ERA since being brought up in late May, but it was barely more than 2.00 until his last two starts, when he was clobbered by the Dodgers and Marlins.
Jump will face a White Sox lineup that doesn’t include last night’s cyclist, Tristan Peters, since Peters has incredibly wide platoon splits, hitting .326 with a .906 OPS against righties but only .115 with a .294 OPS versus southpaws.
Grichuk LF
Murakami DH
Vargas, M 1B
Montgomery, C 3B
Meidroth 2B
Montgomery, B RF
Acuña SS
Perez, J CF
Hudson and Fedde don’t have to worry about facing A’s superstar Nick Kurtz, who just went on the IL with a sprained thumb.
Wilson, J SS
Soderstrom DH
Langeliers C
Heimm 1B
Kuroda-Grauer 3B
Butler, L RF
Cortes LF
McNeil 2B
Bolte CF
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. Central on a perfect day for baseball, a mostly sunny 80° with modest wind in from left. Usual broadcast suspects.
