Gamethread: Red Sox at White Sox

A loooooooooooooooot of players on the Red Sox are on the COVID-19 list, including former Project Runway superstar Chris Sale, so there’s really no telling how this series is going to shake out.

The White Sox are facing off against Tanner Houck, who’s looking for his first win this season (hopefully we don’t give it to him). His stats aren’t bad per se, but they’re also not great.

He’s faring a little better post All-Star break, going 39 ¹⁄₃ innings and striking out 50 while posting a 1.07 WHIP. Houck throws four pitches: 4-seam fastball, slider, sinker, and split finger.

Rafael Devers and José Abreu are both their team leaders in home runs (33 for Devers and 28 for Abreu) as well as RBIs (101 for Devers and 104 for Abreu) while Xander Bogaerts and Tim Anderson both lead in batting average (.298 for Bogaerts and .302 for Anderson). There’s been a bit of a COVID-19 outbreak on the Red Sox, so expect some lineup shuffling by Alex Cora to make it work.

In terms of offense, the Red Sox top the White Sox across the board. As a team they’re slashing .261/.328/.448, with a total of 1254 hits for the season, compared to the White Sox’s slash line of .254/.333/.420, with 1178 hits. The White Sox are going to need to get the bats moving if they want to get an early lead on the Red Sox and keep that defense tight.

Abreu and Yasmani Grandal have fared the best so far against Houck, both going 1-for-2 when they faced him in April.

Here’s how everyone is lining up tonight:

Tonight’s game is on NBCSports Chicago for the locals, ESPN1000 for the radio listeners, and MLB.TV for non-locals (and non-blackouts so basically everyone but Iowa).