The White Sox are rolling out a lineup with a few surprises as they open their series against the Mets at Rate Field on Monday at 6:40 CT.
Chicago comes in at 66-61 after dropping its makeup game to the Braves and getting shut out, and the opening nine against New York looks different than expected. Chase Meidroth is leading off at second base, followed by Munetaka Murakami at first, Miguel Vargas at third, and Randal Grichuk in left field. Colson Montgomery is the designated hitter, Brenton Doyle is in center, Luisangel Acuña is at shortstop, Jake Rogers is catching, and Tristan Peters is in right field.
- Chase Meidroth, 2B
- Munetaka Murakami, 1B
- Miguel Vargas, 3B
- Randal Grichuk, LF
- Colson Montgomery, DH
- Brenton Doyle, CF
- Luisangel Acuña, SS
- Jake Rogers, C
- Tristan Peters, RF
The biggest wrinkle is that Sam Antonacci is out, even though he has been improving against left-handed pitching. Grichuk takes his spot in left, and he enters with two home runs in 19 at-bats against Sean Manaea. Antonacci, meanwhile, has cooled off lately, hitting .091/.310/.136 over his last seven games.
Montgomery stays in the lineup, but as the DH against a lefty, which removes Antonacci’s bat from the order. Doyle is in center, but the move that stands out most is Peters sliding over to right field, which leaves Braden Montgomery out altogether. Braden Montgomery has posted a much weaker OPS against left-handers than right-handers, .554 compared to .749, but his absence also takes an elite right-field arm off the field and replaces it with Peters.
Burke is on the mound for Chicago after a rough outing last time out, when he allowed four runs in 4.1 innings. Even so, he carries a 2.18 ERA over his last seven games and has been one of the White Sox’s biggest bright spots this season. He’ll face a Mets lineup that hasn’t seen much of him.
New York counters with Sean Manaea, who began the year as a long reliever before working his way back into the rotation. He’s been sharp since then, putting up a 3.60 ERA with 81 strikeouts in 80 innings over his last 15 games, including 12 starts.
The Mets’ order features A.J. Ewing in center, Francisco Lindor at short, Bo Bichette at DH, Carson Benge in right, Jared Young at first, Luis Robert Jr. in left, Brett Baty at third, Marcus Semien at second, and Francisco Alvarez behind the plate.
- A.J.
Ewing, CF
2.
Francisco Lindor, SS
3.
Bo Bichette, DH
4.
Carson Benge, RF
5.
Jared Young, 1B
6.
Luis Robert Jr., LF
7.
Brett Baty, 3B
8.
Marcus Semien, 2B
9.
Francisco Alvarez, C
If the White Sox are going to avoid another flat night, they’ll need to do a lot more than they did against Atlanta.
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