Frank Lorenzo
Chicago White Sox (-139, 7.5 o/u) at Seattle Mariners (+129)
Looking to get back to .500, the Chicago White Sox (45-46, 21-24 Away) will send their ace Chris Sale to the mound tonight against fellow lefty Wade LeBlanc and the Seattle Mariners (46-46, 23-22 Home) at Safeco Field (10:10 PM Eastern).
Chicago is coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the lowly Angels, including an embarrassing 8-1 rout last night. The team has now dropped four straight and fallen nine games back of division-leading Cleveland in the AL Central.
The offense, which helped the Sox get off to a quick start to the year, has been anemic of late and now sits 24th in the majors in runs, 21st in batting average, and 22nd in on-base percentage. “We’re not finding ways to manufacture runs or put the ball in play. That’s the frustrating part,” third baseman Todd Frazier told the Chicago Tribune.
With Sale on the mound, they may not need much from the O. The AL Cy Young favorite is 14-3 this season in 18 starts, posting a 3.38 ERA. He hasn’t been immune to the odd off-game, however, and is coming off a five-inning, eight-run loss to the Braves on July 8.
Sale will be facing a Seattle squad that is also trending in the wrong direction. The Ms have dropped seven of their last ten, most recently losing two of three to division rival Houston. They’re now four games back of the Astros for second in the AL West, and 8.5 down on the Rangers.
The veteran LeBlanc has only started three games this season, posting a 1-0 record with a 3.52 ERA. His last outing was a no-decision against Houston, in which he surrendered six hits and five runs in just 3.1 innings.
The Sox have been solid in Seattle recently, going 12-6 SU in their last 18 at Safeco. Tonight’s pitching matchup is really a mis-matchup. Take Sale and the Chi-Sox.
Pick: Chicago (-129).
(Photo Credit: Keith Allison (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/])
