Chicago White Sox (11-22) vs. Cincinnati Reds (13-19)
The 2023 Major League Baseball season goes on Sunday, May 7, so we are breaking down the interleague showdown from Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, to get you the best White Sox vs. Reds betting pick and odds.
Chicago and Cincinnati wrap up a three-game set. The White Sox outlasted the Reds 5-4 in Friday’s opener, while Saturday night’s middle game has been excluded from the analysis. The Reds open as -125 moneyline favorites for the closing contest, and the totals sit at 9.5 runs.
Since losing ten games in a row in the second half of April, the Chicago White Sox have gone 4-1 while grabbing their first series victory in 2023. They’ve taken two out of three against the Minnesota Twins at home. After losing 7-3 in extra innings against the Twins last Thursday, the White Sox beat the Reds 5-4 on Friday night to move to 11-22 on the young season.
Chicago desperately needs to improve on both sides of the ball. The White Sox are scoring 4.09 runs per game (22nd in the majors) while surrendering 6.06 runs in return (29th). Over the last seven days, the Chi Sox are hitting .274/.353/.413 with seven home runs and just four doubles across 179 at-bats.
.@whitesox reliever Liam Hendriks pitched a scoreless inning in his first minor league rehab game since beating cancer. ?????? pic.twitter.com/QVAlMezz7N
— MLB (@MLB) May 6, 2023
Michael Kopech will toe the slab Sunday in Cincinnati, and the 27-year-old right-hander is 0-3 with a pedestrian 5.97 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, and a 34/21 K/BB ratio in six starts (31.2 innings pitched) in 2023. After a horrible April (7.01 ERA, 7.41 FIP), Kopech pitched well in his first outing in May. Last Tuesday, he tossed six frames of a one-run ball in a no-decision against Minnesota. Kopech fanned seven while allowing just one hit, but he also issued five free passes.