Gamethread: Orioles at White Sox

Baltimore gets a breather after suffering their first sweep in nearly two seasons

As you can reasonably assume by now, today’s abridged game coverage is due to our collective decision to cover only 25 players on the current roster.

The White Sox are back at home this evening after a difficult east coast swing that saw them drop three straight in the Bronx and two of three north of the border. Now, though the setting has changed, they’ll be getting a glimpse at the best the East has to offer, as the Baltimore Orioles slide in no doubt thirsty for a win after suffering a sweep of their own at the hands of St. Louis earlier this week, the first time the O’s have been swept in nearly two calendar years, an MLB record.

They’ll be sending some of their best to the hill tonight, as the Sox will face second-year righty Grayson Rodriguez, who’s started his first full MLB season with aplomb, working to a 3.15 ERA and 4-1 record through

A strikeout maestro with 173 punches in 162 career innings, Sox fans will get a peek at some of the game’s nastiest raw stuff tonight. Rodriguez averages an electric 96.4 mph on his heater, with the ability to run it up to near-triple digits when needed. He pairs that with one of the game’s best right-handed changeups. His ability to spin two nasty breaking balls on top of that changeup — a slider to attack same-handed hitters, and a curveball for lefties — made him one of the two or three best pitching prospects in the game entering last year, according to most publications.

The Sox will counter this exciting young arm with some bats that, unfortunately, are neither young nor exciting.

Andrew Benintendi and Paul DeJong have combined for eight hitless ABs against Rodriguez, while Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn have been slightly more successful, registering three hits and a home run between them.

Baltimore will run out their best lineup tonight, surely taking the mentality that the White Sox are not a team to whom a competitive squad can drop even a single game to.

Watch or listen if you dare, on NBCSCH or ESPN 1000 at 6:40 p.m. CT.