After suffering five straight defeats, including four consecutive to their arch-rival Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees bounced back nicely with a 7-0 thrashing of the Chicago White Sox in their series opener. Not only did their offense click against the White Sox, New York’s bullpen also didn’t give up a run all game long.
Prior to the loss, the White Sox were coming off four straight wins including a three game sweep of the of the Tampa Bay Rays. However, the White Sox were blanked as Lance Lynn pitched a two hitter over 7.1 scoreless innings in his first start with the Yankees.
Severino’s Losing Streak
Right hander Luis Severino gets the call to start on top of the mound for the New York Yankees. The 24 year old from Sabana de la Mar, Dominican Republic has an impressive 14-5 record with an ERA of 3.08 and a WHIP of 1.11. During his last outing last Saturday August 4, 2018, Severino gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts over 5.2 innings pitched. The Yankees lost that game to the Red Sox 1-4 and Severino earned his third straight loss.
Severino’s struggles since July continue as he has a terrible 8.28 ERA, 1.88 WHIP 21:7 in K:BB over 25 innings pitched in his last five games. Over that period, Severino has not completed six innings in any of those starts. He will have an opportunity to break that slump on Wednesday on the road against the White Sox.
Aaron Judge leads New York with 26 home runs this season but the 26 year old has been sidelined since getting hit by a pitch on July 26, 2018. Initially, the Yankees projected a three week timetable for his return but while he is making incremental progress, he isn’t expected to be back until late August or early September with that wrist injury.
New York Yankees vs Chicago White Sox 8/8/18?
Odds: Yankees -270, White Sox +245
Odds as of Betonline.ag as of 8/7/18
Giolito Nearing .500 Winning Mark
Lucas Giolito will start for the Chicago White Sox on 8/8/18. The 24 year old from Santa Monica, California has 22 starts this season and has a record of 7-8 with an ERA of 5.97 and a WHIP of 1.49. Giolito gave up one run on two hits and three walks with six strikeouts in seven innings pitched during Friday’s 3-2 extra inning win over the Rays.
Giolito pitched brilliantly through seven innings but he yielded a leadoff double to start the 8th inning. He was pulled out after throwing 99 pitches and with the White Sox up by two runs. But the bullpen could not hold on to the lead, depriving Giolito of the win. His effort thought was good enough to lower his ERA to below 6.00 for the first time since April 2018.
Jose Abreu leads the White Sox in homeruns (19), RBIs(63) and batting average (.266). After going 2-4 with a solo homer during the White Sox’s 2-1 win over the Rays on 8/4/18, Abreu went 0-4 against the Yankees on Monday.
Who Wins?
The White Sox are 4-0 in Giolito’s last four starts but are just 1-4 in his last 5 home starts against teams with a winning record. Chicago is also just 1-4 in its last 5 games on grass and 1-4 in their last 5 games at home. Moreover, they are 1-5 in their last 6 games versus teams with at least a .600 winning mark.
The Yankees meanwhile 10-1 in Severino’s last 11 Wednesday starts and are 7-1 in his last 8 starts in a Game 3 of a series. New York has also beaten four out of its last five opponents who had a winning mark below .400.
Giolito has shown noticeable improvement this season but he still leads the American League in walks, hit batters and earned runs allowed. That’s not a good combination to have against a powerhouse like the New York Yankees. New York is just going to take advantage of his mistakes here and score runs to get the victory.
We’re picking the New York Yankees to beat the Chicago White Sox on 8/8/18.