ARLINGTON, Texas — The last time the Texas Rangers made their way to the Windy City, they earned a series loss to the Chicago Cubs.
That came during the third series of the year back in April, the team’s first road series of the season, where Texas was shut down by Marcus Stroman and suffered some bad bullpen pitching from a couple of relievers who aren’t even on the team anymore – Ian Kennedy and Taylor Hearn – and then won pretty convincingly in the series finale to kick off a stretch of offensive prosperity.
Now, Texas travels to the other side of the city, with a revitalized bullpen and a more consistent offense, while set to face a Chicago White Sox team that has had an entire season of “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve.”
Where Chicago’s coming from
The White Sox recently suffered a series loss to Texas’ division rival, Seattle. In the finale, former Ranger Lance Lynn had a very good outing, striking out a White Sox club record of 16 in 114 pitches over seven innings. He also gave up three runs, with Chicago only able to score one. That’s been the story of the Chicago White Sox this season.
In a weak American League Central, in which the Minnesota Twins lead the division with a .500 record, the White Sox sit in fourth place, with a 31-42 record. They rank near the bottom of the league in almost every major offensive and pitching statistic and have been plagued by injuries to some very key players.
Most notably, third baseman Yoan Moncada and reliever Liam Hendriks have been out for most of the season. Reliever Jimmy Lambert has been out with an ankle injury for the whole month of June.
Most recently, starter Mike Clevinger, who had just finished a stint on the 15-day IL for right wrist inflammation at the start of the month, has gone back on the IL with right biceps inflammation. The players that are left after that just haven’t been good enough, collectively.
The offense is anchored by Luis Robert, Jr., their center fielder, slashing .258/.312/.523 and leading the team with 17 homers. First baseman Andrew Vaughn has also been extremely productive, leading the team 41 RBIs.
Hefty designated hitter Jake Burger might not be hitting for average, but is certainly a powerhouse, slugging .578 with 16 homers and 36 RBI. As a team, the White Sox sit in the bottom third of the league with a slash line of .235/.293/.387.
The White Sox’ rotation, which had promise on paper, hasn’t lived up to the expectations either. Every starter has a WHIP above 1.2 and an ERA above 3.50, while the staff leads the league in walks and, by virtue of that, the starters are only averaging around 5 ⅓ innings per outing.
Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech, two hurlers who were going to be heavily relied on to carry the White Sox’ rotation, have vastly underperformed, while Lucas Giolito has done well after his first two starts of the season, but now looks at potentially finishing the season with a different team, as he will be a free agent after the year.
Furthermore, the White Sox are dealing with a bit of front office drama, as “Sell The Team” chants and rallies echo almost to an Oakland level. Chicago’s light on depth, light on prospects to use as trade chips, and light on cohesive talent at the big league level. All of that makes for a grumpy atmosphere on the South Side.
Things to watch for
- Game 72: 7:10 PM CT - LHP Andrew Heaney (4-4, 4.05 ERA) vs. TBD
- Game 73: 7:10 PM CT - RHP Nathan Eovaldi (9-3, 2.59 ERA) vs. RHP Dylan Cease (3-3, 4.31 ERA)
- Game 74: 7:10 PM CT - LHP Martin Perez (6-3, 4.54 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Kopech (3-5, 3.92 ERA)
With Clevinger recently hitting the IL, the White Sox rotation is a bit in flux. There are no guaranteed starters for Chicago at Guaranteed Rate Field, but the only thing that is a certainty is that Texas will not be facing their former ace, Lynn.
Lynn had his fantastic performance in a 5-1 loss to Seattle to close their series on Sunday but otherwise has been dreadful for the Chi-Sox. Texas is also unlikely to see Giolito after he went five innings, giving up two earned runs and eight hits in the middle game on Saturday.
Cease will likely get the ball on Tuesday, and Michael Kopech will almost certainly go in the finale on Wednesday night but Chicago has not yet made their order official. Assuming things hold to schedule, Cease will go against Nathan Eovaldi, and Kopech will take the hill against Martin Perez.
Andrew Heaney, meanwhile, gets the call for Texas on Monday night, and Heaney desperately needs to get back on an efficient track. While he only allowed one run in his last start against the Angels, he had also thrown 95 pitches through 3 ⅔ innings, resulting in an early trip to the showers for the lefty.
Heaney walked four in that start, and, in two starts prior, against the Mariners, Heaney also walked four and lasted just three innings, having thrown 78 pitches.
Cease is coming off a start against the Dodgers, a 5 ⅓ inning effort in which he gave up two earned runs on four hits while walking three and striking out a season-high 10 batters. Cease has been good during the month of June; in his three starts this month, he’s pitched to a 2.16 ERA over 16 ⅔ innings following a season in which he finished second in the American League Cy Young voting.
Eovaldi is coming off of a quality start against the Angels; although he took the loss. The Rangers’ newfound ace went seven innings and allowed just three runs on five hits while striking out nine and walking two. Eovaldi has come down a little bit since his exceptional May but has still been good, pitching to a 3.26 ERA in his three starts this month.
Michael Kopech has been one of the White Sox best pitchers, but got off to an absolutely horrendous start to the season, posting a 7.01 ERA in April. Since then, he’s pitched to a 2.41 ERA with opponents hitting just .175 off of him. Perez will oppose him in the finale, having just come off of a great rebound performance against the Blue Jays.
While that’s all well and good, Perez this season has a terrible record on the road. At Globe Life Field, Perez is posting a 1.71 ERA, a 3.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio, with opponents slashing .229/.272/.314 off of him. Away from Arlington, though, Perez has an astronomical 6.50 ERA and opponents are hitting .330/.388/.545 while drawing 19 walks.
This is going to be an important test for Perez, as he faces a struggling White Sox team who have drawn the fewest walks in all of baseball.
Do you think the Rangers will get back to feasting on the AL Central? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.