The Pirates stand seven games behind the Cubs are they visit Chicago for an afternoon game against the Cubs. Francisco Liriano takes on Jason Hammel. Liriano showed control and home run issues early this season, allowing five home runs and 19 walks in 35 innings. His high strikeout rate led to a low opposition batting average, which limits the damage. Hammel looks to go 5-0 as controlling his home runs allowed helped him to a 1.85 ERA so far in 2016.
The first place White Sox send their ace Chris Sale against the Yankees and struggling youngster Luis Severino. Sale goes for his eighth win in eight starts. Sale posts an extremely low BABIP, 206. The White Sox are a good, but not great, defensive team, so Sale may be due for a regression as ball start finding holes. On the other hand, his line drive percentage is way down, so he may be doing a better job of inducing poor contact. Severino represents a perfect example of luck in small sample sizes. He posted an ERA of 2.89 in 62 1/3 innings last season with an xFIP of 3.72. He owns a 6.12 ERA in 32.1 innings in 2016 with a 3.41 xFIP. Severino improved, but his luck changed.
My daughter will be at Fenway tonight as Lance McCullers makes his 2016 debut for the Astros against Steven Wright. McCullers suffered shoulder pain that kept him on the shelf until now. He struck out 11 in eight innings in his two rehab starts. Wright is the new knuckle ball sensation, putting up power-pitcher like strikeout numbers. That combined with the difficulty of making good contact with that pitch has opponents hitting .172 against him with a .248 slugging percentage.
The Angels try to end their six-game losing streak and gain on the first-place Mariners as Nick Tropeano faces Nathan Karns in Seattle. Tropeano continues to blow away batters, but his walks and home runs allowed are way up from last season. It has not hurt his ERA yet as opponents are 3 for 24 against him with runners in scoring position. Karns, a right-handed pitcher, has done better against left-handed batters this season.
Enjoy!