MLB Aces Of The Day For Tuesday, August 16

Target these picthers to shut down opposing offenses

By Matthew Horner – Aug 16, 2022, 12:16am

Justin Verlander (1.85 ERA), Houston Astros vs. Chicago White Sox

The White Sox offense is struggling and that is an understatement. They may have just swept the Detroit Tigers, but a minor league team might be able to do that, too. Prior to the last two games against the lowly Tigers, Chicago had been held to three runs or less in eight of their last 10 games. Those games also came against the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers, poor teams with bad pitching that Chicago should have been able to crush with the talent in their lineup. The pitching has been solid, but that really doesn't matter when you can't put up any runs on the board to support it. Something tells me that it isn't going to get any better against the Houston Astros in this series, a team that has some great pitching with dominating starters.

Justin Verlander takes the hill on Tuesday, which could spell doom for this Sox offense. In his last game, he pitched six innings, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk while striking out seven in an extra-inning loss to the Rangers. He did not factor into the decision, but it was one of his worst starts this season. He allowed more than one earned run for the first time in eight starts. That is just insane, but also something we have come to expect from the almost-40-year-old veteran. Verlander was able to extend his quality-start streak to eight consecutive outings however, producing a ridiculous 1.17 ERA and 0.82 WHIP with 53 strikeouts over 53.2 innings of work during that stretch. His season numbers now sit at a 1.85 ERA and 0.86 WHIP with 134 K's over 136 innings in 21 outings.
  
Read Full Article