After having his Guardians debut cut short, right-hander Noah Syndergaard will look to fully display his talents on Saturday night when Cleveland faces the visiting Chicago White Sox in the second contest of a three-game series.
Syndergaard (1-4, 6.68 ERA) struggled in his first 12 starts this season with the Los Angeles Dodgers before looking revitalized for Cleveland against the Houston Astros on Monday, allowing just one run on two hits in 5 1/3 innings.
However, Syndergaard was forced to leave after just 68 pitches when he was hit in the leg by a line drive in the sixth.
Despite the early exit, he still was pleased with his first outing since June 7. He had been out because of a blister on his right index finger.
“I felt like not competing in a big-league game for (almost) two months, I felt like efficiency and strike-throwing was really good,” Syndergaard said. “I’m just looking forward to getting back on the mound whenever that is and working in between with my side work to help crisp up that off-speed stuff.”
Syndergaard will have a great opportunity to keep rolling against the White Sox, who have lost five straight games after falling 4-2 in the series opener on Friday. In three career appearances (two starts) against Chicago, Syndergaard is 1-0 with a 1.76 ERA.
Although the White Sox have lost 11 of their past 13 games, manager Pedro Grifol doesn’t want his team to throw in the towel yet.
“We have two months left, and they are a critical two months,” Grifol said. “This is not a ‘just-finish-the-season-out’ type of two months for us.
“We’re never going to compromise a major league win because they’re really, really hard to come by. At the same time, there are things we have to correct before we move forward, and that’s one of them. We just have to get better at it.”
Right-hander Michael Kopech (4-10, 4.49) will attempt to help Chicago snap its skid when he makes his 21st start of the season on Saturday.
Kopech also faced the Guardians in his most recent outing, taking a loss last Sunday after allowing three runs on four hits in five innings.
Kopech again struggled to keep the ball in the park, giving up a pair of homers. He has surrendered a home run in each of his last six starts, going 1-5 with a 6.29 ERA during that span.
In eight career appearances (four starts) against Cleveland, Kopech is 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA.
Although he doesn’t have the most impressive track record against Kopech (1-for-7, three strikeouts), Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez will look to build off of Friday’s 3-for-4 performance.
Gimenez provided a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fifth and added two doubles, improving his average against the White Sox this season to .282 (11-for-39). He has multiple hits in four of the 11 games he has played against Chicago in 2023.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s Luis Robert Jr. is searching for his offense after going 10-for-48 (.208) over his last 12 games. He has homered just once during that stretch and went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts on Friday.
–Field Level Media
