A pair of American League playoff hopefuls continue a set on the diamond in Charm City. The Chicago White Sox are on the road as they play the middle game of a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday night. Chicago comes in off a 6-4 road loss to the Royals Monday afternoon in the makeup of a previously postponed contest. Baltimore took two of three from the Red Sox, winning the finale of the set 5-3 Sunday night in the Little League Classic held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. This article was published prior to the opening game of the series at Oriole Park at Camden Yards Tuesday night.
Chicago dug a hole early, climbed out to tie the game but gave it away in the eighth to lose to the Royals on the road Monday night. The White Sox entered Tuesday third in the AL Central, three games behind the Guardians for the top spot in the division race. They stood four games behind the Blue Jays and Mariners, who owned the final two wild card spots in the American League. On Monday, Chicago got three hits from Jose Abreu (two runs) along with two each from Elvis Andrus (three RBI) and Josh Harrison only to fall short. Michael Kopech got the start but didn’t factor in the decision as he allowed four runs on one hit with two walks, a hit batter and no strikeouts without retiring a hitter. Joe Kelly (1-3) took the loss as he allowed two runs on one hit with one walk, two hit batters and no strikeouts in one-third of an inning.
Lucas Giolito is on the mound for the White Sox in the finale a s he makes his 23rd start of the season here. He comes in with a 9-7 record, a 5.34 ERA, a 1.53 WHIP, 44 walks and 132 strikeouts over 116.1 innings of work on the year. Giolito was shelled and took the loss in his last start, which came at home against the Astros Thursday afternoon. He threw three innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts in a 21-5 White Sox loss. In his last three starts, Giolito is 2-1 with a 7.20 ERA, a 1.80 WHIP, five walks and 17 strikeouts over 15 innings of action. Giolito makes his fifth career start against the Orioles in this contest. He comes in 2-2 with a 6.41 ERA, a 1.678 WHIP, 10 walks and 22 strikeouts over 19.2 innings of work against them. Giolito is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA, a 1.588 WHIP, four walks and 10 strikeouts over 11.1 innings in two career starts at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.