Gamethread: White Sox at Guardians

Seeking solace in Cleveland, Chicago aims to snap five-game losing streak

The South Siders made a couple of moves prior to this afternoon's contest. First off, we've got Tyler Gilbert coming up and Brandon Eisert going down.

Then, we have a bit more encouraging news with one of Spring Training's top sluggers likely heading back to Chicago soon.

Drury looked as if he was a lock for the 26-man, slashing .410/.439/.821 with a 1.260 OPS before he fractured his left thumb in camp. It seems like he's now on the mend. Goodness knows, we sure could use his bat in this anemic lineup.

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The Chicago White Sox (2-7) kick off a three-game set today against the Cleveland Guardians (3-6) — their first matchup of the season and the Guardians' official home opener. After blowing out the Minnesota Twins 9-0 on March 31, the South Siders are riding a five-game losing streak, getting swept by the Detroit Tigers this past weekend. Losing streaks are nothing new for this team, and this likely won't be the last one of the year.

Righthander Shane Smith is making his second big league start and is coming off an excellent first outing, working through 5 2⁄3 quality innings where he gave up just two runs on two hits. Smith's fastball is his top and most popular pitch, with a solid 32% Called Strike Plus Whiff Rate (CSW%) in his first appearance. He also has an effective slider and changeup, and the changeup even had the highest CSW% (36%), though it only accounted for 19% of his 73 pitches (14). The key for Shane will be to limit walks and minimize free baserunners, which was how he gave up his two runs last week.

Cleveland has plenty of weapons in their lineup that Smith will need to fend off, including leadoff hitter Steven Kwan, who leads the Guardians in hits (12) and BA (.353). The real Sox killer, however, is José Ramírez, who is on fire in his first 25 ABs to start the year. He is slashing .320/.438/.880 — yes, you read that right, an .880 SLG, the highest in the league. His 1.310 OPS is borderline out of control, and he's mashed two doubles and four homers.

Guardians Lineup

On the mound for the Guardians will be righthander Ben Lively. He had a solid 3.81 ERA in 151 innings in 2024; however, he has had a rough couple of starts to kick off this season. In 9 1⁄3 innings, he has given up seven runs on 11 hits with two walks and seven strikeouts and possesses a 1.393 WHIP.

Andrew Benintendi has the most historical ABs against Lively with seven and has a .286 BA and .929 OPS against him. Benny is one of the hottest hitters on the Sox right now — not that that is saying much, to be honest — posting an .817 OPS in 31 ABs. Unfortunately, he's out of the lineup and is still day-to-day with left adductor tightness. Korey Lee is the other Chicago batter who is having success when he's in the game. Though he's only had 13 at-bats thus far, he is slugging .538 with a .967 OPS and is leading the team in BA (.385), but he's riding the bench today with Matt Thaiss getting the nod for backstop duty.

While his seven-game hitting streak officially ended on Sunday, Brooks Baldwin has been an important piece of the lineup, slashing .280/.269/.440, and has the second most RBIs on the team (five), and second most hits (seven), only behind Benintendi.

White Sox Lineup

Game time is at 3:10 p.m. CT, and you can (maybe) find the game on TV at CHSN and on the radio as always at ESPN 1000.