A shot at back-to-back series victories and a 5-2 finish to the first week of the season are at stake when Jose Quintana and the White Sox face the Indians in the rubber match of their rubber series at 1:10 p.m. today at U.S. Cellular Field, weather permitting.
After cold, snowy weather plagued the first two games of the White Sox home-opening series, more of the same is expected today with temperatures in the high 30s and rain possible at first pitch. But if the game IS played, the Sox will face Josh Tomlin, the lone Tribe hurler yet to get a start this season.
Tomlin allowed just three earned runs in two starts against the White Sox a year ago, and is coming off of an impressive partial-season of work in general after battling injuries and inconsistencies that have prevented him from playing a full season since 2011. In 10 starts and 65 innings a year ago, he was worth 1.2 WARP and had an impressive 89 cFIP, along with a TAv allowed of .222, giving Cleveland hope he can duplicate those numbers over the course of an entire season and make their already solid rotation even better. Tomlin’s game shows him keeping the ball around the plate almost exclusively, as he averaged just around one walk per nine innings a year ago, but the flip side is he’s relatively dinger-prone, giving up 13 in his 65 innings of work. That’s not an outlier from his career, either, as he averages exactly as many BB/9 as HR/9.
Quintana gets his second start of the season for the White Sox after a debut in which he allowed two earned runs, walked zero and struck out 7 in 5.2 innings of work against Oakland (and, not surprisingly, getting a no-decision). Quintana dominated Cleveland a year ago, allowing just two earned runs in 22 innings against the Tribe (yet somehow losing one of his three starts against them).
A win Sunday would leave the White Sox three game above .500 after the first week of the season including taking two of three against the presumed AL Central favorites entering the season. Little things like this aren’t worth losing sleep over this early in the season, but a good start is a good start, and it’d be nice to end the week with a pair of series wins before heading to Minnesota.
White Sox Lineup:
- Austin Jackson – CF
- Brett Lawrie – 2B
- Jose Abreu – 1B
- Todd Frazier – 3B
- Melky Cabrera – LF
- Avisail Garcia – RF
- Jerry Sands – DH
- Dioner Navarro – C
- Tyler Saladino – SS
Jose Quintana – LHP
Indians Lineup:
- Rajai Davis – CF
- Jason Kipnis – 2B
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Mike Napoli – 1B
- Carlos Santana – DH
- Marlon Byrd – LF
- Roberto Perez – C
- Jose Ramirez – 3B
- Colin Cowgill – RF
Josh Tomlin – RHP
Adam Eaton is out for the second-straight game for the birth of his son, and Bruce Levine reports he’s headed for the Paternity Leave list, prompting the call-up of right-hander and former super IFA prospect Michael Ynoa from Double-A Birmingham. Eaton is not expected to miss anymore games, however.
Eaton’s absence, along with efforts to rest Jimmy Rollins and Alex Avila regularly, has prompted Robin Ventura to dump a slate of hitters into Sunday’s lineup who are generally hopeless against right-handed pitching. Josh Tomlin‘s multi-year TAv platoon splits show him significantly more effective against lefties than righties, however (.226 vs. .288), so perhaps that weighed into the thinking.
Top photo credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports