Gamethread: White Sox at Cleveland

Leader of the pack: Though the White Sox have five hitters with 10 or more home runs, MVP candidate José Abreu finds himself with a solid lead (18 home runs). | David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

MVP candidate José Abreu looks to lead the charge against Cal Quantrill and Cleveland

The White Sox (34-20) have had quite the season, but it has not been easy during the past few days. All of the White Sox’s past four games have been in Ohio (three in Cincinnati and one so far in Cleveland), and they have lost three of those four. As the brief regular season enters the home stretch, the AL Central race is rather tight, as Minnesota (33-22) and Cleveland (30-24) remain in the running.

Reynaldo López will start for the White Sox. In 20 innings this season, López has a 5.40 ERA, a 6.94 FIP, and a 6.11 xFIP (-0.2 FanGraphs WAR). López looks to build on his last start, when he struck out six and only issued one walk. Unfortunately, in that outing, López allowed three home runs. However, all of them were of the solo variety, and the White Sox rallied against Minnesota’s bullpen to pull off a 4-3 victory.

Starting for Cleveland will be Cal Quantrill, who recently came to Cleveland via trade from San Diego. Quantrill, a 25-year-old right-hander, has a 2.52 ERA, a 3.95 FIP, and a 4.46 xFIP in 25 innings (0.3 FanGraphs WAR).

Per Baseball Savant, Quantill relies heavily on his sinker, as he throws it 41% of the time. The results indicate that he should continue to use this pitch, as it is his most effective one. This year, opposing hitters are only averaging an exit velocity of 75.2 mph, and their wOBA is only .217 against Quantrill’s sinker. Quantrill’s fastball velocity (average: 95 mph) is among his biggest weapons.

Here are tonight’s starting lineups:

Tonight’s game will start at 5:10 CST. As usual, NBC Sports Chicago will televise it, and WGN 720 will have the radio coverage. Let’s get back in the win column.