The Cleveland Guardians and Logan Allen will try to continue their early-season dominance when the left-hander takes the mound against the visiting Chicago White Sox in the second game of a three-game series on Tuesday.
The Guardians won the series opener 4-0 on Monday afternoon to improve to 8-2 on the season, their best start since the 2011 season.
“It just seems like, in these games, we find a way to score runs, and that’s a mark of a good offense,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’re not going to get the three-run homer, the four-run homer every night. We have to find ways to make things happen, and these guys do it with their speed and aggressiveness every night.”
The White Sox, meanwhile, dropped to 1-9, the second-worst start in team history. They have been shut out four times.
Allen (2-0, 2.31 ERA) is one of the reasons the Guardians have sprung out of the gate so well this season.
He played a big role in an 8-0 road win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, tossing 6 2/3 shutout innings.
“He was efficient with his pitches, getting weak contact, got some strikeouts,” Vogt said. “Logan pitched a heck of a game.”
The Guardians staked Allen to a 5-0 lead after two innings, which allowed him to be more aggressive in the strike zone. He struck out six and walked three.
“Probably not nibbling corners so much,” Allen said. “A little bit pitching to the score. You’ve got a big lead, just not be afraid of contact as much (and) let the guys make some plays.”
Allen faced the White Sox four times during his rookie year last season and went 1-2 with a 4.18 ERA.
Chicago first baseman Andrew Vaughn had the most success against Allen, going 5-for-12 with a home run and two RBIs.
Michael Soroka (0-1, 4.91 ERA) is scheduled to make his third start of the season for the White Sox on Tuesday.
The right-hander allowed two runs and six hits in six innings in his latest outing, on Thursday against the Kansas City Royals. He exited with the White Sox trailing by just one run, but the bullpen faltered and Soroka took the loss in a 10-1 defeat.
Soroka spent the previous nine years in the Atlanta Braves’ organization. He went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts in 2019 and the following season became the youngest Opening Day starter in Braves history at age 22.
He tore his Achilles tendon two weeks later, however, and tore it again the following season, missing out on Atlanta’s run to the 2021 World Series title.
Soroka remembers the mindset the Braves brought to the clubhouse, however, and he believes it’s an attitude the White Sox can still develop.
“We’re all just trying to play complete baseball like we said in camp,” Soroka said. “That’s how the best teams do it. That’s how it felt in Atlanta. Things were clicking all at once and I think it’s just a matter of continuing to play as a team.”
Soroka made the only appearance of his career against the Guardians on July 5, 2023, and blanked them on five hits over 4 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
