After a close game and a rain delay last night, the White Sox (43-76) will attempt to bounce back against the Detroit Tigers (69-51), but the game will naturally start in a rain delay due to thunderstorms in the area. My thoughts are with all of the fans that are being Reinsdorfed as this article is being written and read.
Prior to dropping Tuesday’s lineup, Chicago announced a few roster moves. Some were more questionable than others, such as designating outfielder Corey Julks for assignment while there are no solid outfield options, and Josh Rojas somehow still holds a roster spot. But I digress. In the slurry of moves, Miguel Vargas is also returning from the IL, and last night’s opener, Elvis Peguero, was optioned to Charlotte to send righthander Yoendrys Gómez back to Chicago as the South Siders scrape the barrel for starting pitchers.
Gómez will make his 13th MLB appearance tonight, but it’s just his first start of the season. He spent most of his time in the big leagues at the beginning of the year, and outside of one rough inning, he was pretty solid for his first 11 2/3 frames. Gómez struggled in May, however, and overall he has posted a 6.62 ERA across 17 2/3 innings. He tends to struggle with the free passes as he has walked the same number of batters as he has struck out (13), and his (honestly, a bit frightening) 1.868 WHIP highlights some of those issues. Yoendrys hasn’t had the same problems in the minors, however, as he has a 2.12 ERA across 14 games and 46 2/3 innings with a 1.264 WHIP.
The Tigers’ offense is ranked 20th in MLB for most walks, so maybe that can help Gómez a bit while facing a tough Detroit lineup. Kerry Carpenter has been on a hot streak for the Motor City Kitties, and is slashing .325/.333/.850 with a 1.183 OPS over the last month (10 games, 40 ABs), and as we saw last night, Spencer Torkelson is another difficult matchup with 26 home runs hit in 2025 — tied for 12th most in baseball.
The South Siders will have to face righthander Jack Flaherty, who will be making his 24th start of the season for Detroit. Flaherty hasn’t been as dominant in 2025 as he was in 2024, and holds a 4.56 ERA and a 1.280 WHIP over 120 1/3 innings, but he does tend to strikeout a lot of batters, and has done so 147 times thus far — 14th most in MLB.
In somewhat of a plot twist, Flaherty might have to face a “difficult” (?) White Sox lineup, as they are ranked third in RBIs, third in OPS, and first in home runs in all of MLB for the last month. Colson Montgomery is holding down shortstop this evening, and has been exceeding expectation since joining the big leagues, and has the third most RBIs (24), and tied for third with most home runs (10). Luis Robert Jr. has also been revived, and is slashing .333/.397/.478 with three home runs, 11 RBIs, and nine stolen bases over his last 19 games, and he would be leading all of baseball in stolen bases if it wasn’t for … Josh Naylor with 11, of all people.
The rain seems to be moving out of the area finally, and first pitch is now set to take place at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tune into the TV broadcast on CHSN — or check out the Tigers broadcast if you want to hang with our old pal, Jason Benetti. The radio broadcast will also be available in the usual location at ESPN Chicago AM 1000. Let’s tie up the series, folks!