After a blowout win to help salvage their series against the Houston Astros, the Chicago White Sox turn right around and open a four-game set against the New York Yankees at Rate Field.
The White Sox will send out a righty-heavy lineup against left-hander Max Fried, and Will Venable is giving Randal Grichuk the leadoff spot. Grichuk will start in left field, with Sam Antonacci getting the day off. Grichuk has seen Fried plenty before, going 5-for-16 against him for a .313 average.
Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas are again slotted near the top of the order, while Colson Montgomery is back in the lineup after a second instance of fouling a ball off his shin. He’ll serve as the designated hitter rather than playing shortstop, and he has gone 2-for-3 against Fried in his career.
Everson Pereira returns from injury and will bat seventh while handling center field duties in place of Tristan Peters. Edgar Quero continues to look strong since coming back from Triple-A and will catch. Luisangel Acuña is at shortstop with Montgomery at DH.
The full White Sox lineup: 1.
Randal Grichuk, LF 2.
Munetaka Murakami, 1B 3.
Miguel Vargas, 3B 4.
Colson Montgomery, DH 5.
Chase Meidroth, 2B 6.
Braden Montgomery, RF 7.
Everson Pereira, CF 8.
Edgar Quero, C 9.
Luisangel Acuña, SS
On the other side, the Yankees are piecing together a lineup that’s been thinned out by injuries, with Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and others still sidelined. Still, there’s enough danger in the middle of the order to make this a tough assignment for Chicago starter Noah Schultz.
Paul Goldschmidt is the name that jumps off the page. He’s been mashing lefties all year, hitting .333/.417/.649 against southpaws, and he was a problem for the White Sox the last time these teams met at Yankee Stadium. Chicago will be hoping that doesn’t carry over to this series.
The Yankees lineup: 1.
Max Schuemann, LF 2.
Ben Rice, DH 3.
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B 4.
Jasson Domínguez, RF 5.
Anthony Volpe, SS 6.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B 7.
José Caballero, 3B 8.
Spencer Jones, CF 9.
Ali Sánchez, C
Schultz enters with plenty to prove. Through 12 starts, he has a 6.04 ERA, and his last outing was rough: just 3.2 innings, 11 hits and five runs allowed against the Texas Rangers.
That makes this stretch feel like something of an audition. The White Sox are reportedly narrowing in on a starter ahead of the trade deadline, and if they bring one in, Schultz could be sent down.
Fried, meanwhile, has only appeared in 11 games this season because of a left elbow injury. He returned on July 22 and threw five scoreless innings in that outing.
With the White Sox stacking right-handed bats against him, they may have a chance to do some damage if Fried is still shaking off the rust.
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The appeal is obvious from the Yankees side because the target would slide into a high-leverage role and deepen a relief mix that already leans on David Bednar, Brent Headrick and Fernando Cruz in different late-inning spots. Bowdens case for the Padres is just as practical, since they are staring at a rotation reset and could use the incoming arms as controllable starting depth, which is the kind of return that can make a speculative deal feel a little more real than most July chatter. [Read more 🡒]