The Chicago White Sox, looking to win their third consecutive home series, will face the Detroit Tigers in the middle game of a three-game set on Saturday night.
Andrew Vaughn’s two-run single in the seventh inning and a combined three-hit shutout boosted the White Sox to a 2-0 victory against the Tigers on Friday. It was the first time the White Sox took the opening game of a home series since June 20. A day later, they beat the visiting Toronto Blue Jays again.
The White Sox sent the Tigers to their fifth straight defeat on Friday while ending a two-game skid of their own. Chicago leads the season series with Detroit 8-3.
The status of White Sox center fielder Luis Robert for Saturday is uncertain. On base in the sixth inning of the series opener with his second hit of the night, Robert exited moments later after sustaining a sprained left wrist on an attempted steal of second base. X-rays were negative, and he is listed as day-to-day.
Right-hander Matt Manning (0-0, 2.25 ERA) is slated to make his fifth start of the season for Detroit. It will be his third outing since he returned in early August from a three-plus-month stint on the injured list caused by shoulder soreness.
Manning is coming off a sterling outing against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, when he scattered four hits, three walks and a career-high-tying seven strikeouts in seven scoreless innings. He never pitched longer than six innings in an appearance.
It was especially encouraging for a Tigers rotation that is in need of innings eaters. Manning is far from the only pitcher to contend with injuries this season.
“To protect him, I could’ve taken him out after six,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “But I walk that line of challenging him, and also, he was in complete control of the at-bats and the innings. … He just went out and cruised through seven.”
Cruised? The modest Manning would slightly disagree.
“I would like to be a little sharper early, cut down on the walks a little bit,” he said. “But when I had two strikes and I needed to make a pitch, I did. When there was a runner on first, I did.”
Manning has started four games against the White Sox, all of them last season. He went 0-1 with a 6.19 ERA in 16 innings during those outings.
Right-hander Lucas Giolito (8-6, 4.91) will get the call for Chicago on Saturday as he looks to continue a solid August. On Sunday, Giolito improved to 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in two starts this month after pitching five innings of one-run ball at Texas.
“I’d like to go deeper, but I’ve got to do a better job limiting the walks and limiting the deep at-bats,” Giolito said. “It seems to all be happening in one inning. It’s just focusing up a little better there.”
Giolito is 0-1 with a 4.22 ERA in two starts against the Tigers this season, amassing 14 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings. For his career against Detroit, he is 5-6 with a 4.53 ERA in 16 starts.
Chicago manager Tony La Russa did not offer an update Friday on the status of reliever Joe Kelly, who exited Thursday’s game at Kansas City due to lightheadedness.
–Field Level Media