After a much-needed series win at home against the Minnesota Twins, the White Sox face the Pittsburgh Pirates for the only time this season, a three-game set before the Good Guys head down to St. Louis over the weekend. The White Sox flexed Sunday into a bullpen game, because of course, and shifted righthander Sean Burke’s start back a day, making his 29th appearance of the season tonight — his 25th start.

Despite walking four batters in his previous start on September 1, Burke only allowed one hit in his 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out six in the process. In his career-high 154 2/3 frames this season, the righty ace has held steady at a 3.20 ERA and 1.144 WHIP, and has struck out 167 batters so far, at a 26.2% strikeout rate. With the South Siders’ starting rotation fluctuating through the year, Burke has been a constant in his outings, with six runs being the most surrendered in a start this year, at home against Seattle in May.

Thankfully the White Sox offense heated up quite a bit in their last game, demolishing the Twins, 10-1, with 12 hits, seven of which were mashed for extra bases (five doubles, two home runs). Tonight’s lineup is identical to the Sunday Night Baseball game, rolling with the lefty-heavy batting order against Pirates righthander Bubba Chandler. In his last game, Sam Antonacci plated three doubles against the Twins, certainly earning his spot in the leadoff position. I’ve been a fan of Miguel Vargas shifting into the 2-hole, considering he is the best and most consistent hitter on the team.

Over the last 15 days, three Sox players rank in the Top 20 in baseball in on-base percentage: Tristan Peters (eighth), Antonacci (19) and Miguel Vargas (20). Peters has been on fire, and the rookie also is tied for seventh for slugging percentage (.744) over the same time frame, and is batting seventh tonight. If you were to ask me (you weren’t), I’d be shifting Peters up in the lineup, as he has solidified himself as one of the best hitters on the team and one of the stronger players in all of baseball. But it does say a lot that there’s not many ways you can go wrong with this lineup, especially when they are on their A-game.

Chicago White Sox Lineup

For the Pirates, Chandler has been fairly solid, posting a 4.30 ERA in 27 outings this season with a 1.368 WHIP. Chandler’s 4.12 expected ERA (xERA) is slightly lower, along with a 4.16 FIP, indicating that he might have had some bad luck here and there. But he still has accumulated 1.9 WAR. One of the righty’s strengths is that he tends to miss barrels, holding a 5.6% barrel rate, ranking in the 82 percentile in MLB. Chandler’s fastball is his go-to, which makes sense as he throws straight heat, averaging 98.3 mph, using about 48% of the time, and closer to 50% when facing left-handed hitters. Chandler’s off-speed pitches tend to be his most effective, however, as his changeup, sinker, and sweeper all have amassed a .200 or worse opponent batting average.

Because this is the first time these two teams will match up, and most batters haven’t seen these pitchers before, the White Sox will definitely have to be prepared for some strong bats in the Pittsburgh lineup. Brandon Lowe is batting second behind rookie Konnor Griffin, who ranks 24th in the National League with an .803 OPS, though he is just one of five hitters with an .800 or near-.800 OPS, as Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Esmerlyn Valdez, and Rafael Flores Jr. are all right there with him. As a team, the Pirates rank seventh in baseball with a .731 team OPS and fifth in batting average. Ideally, Burke is able to keep their power under control and miss those Pittsburgh bats.

Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup

Be sure to tune in to the action tonight, either on TV at CHSN, or on the radio at ESPN Chicago AM 1000. There should be some beautiful weather on the South Side, with temperatures hanging in the low-80s to upper-70s and partly cloudy skies. Time to snag a W and start up a new win streak.

One of the first games at Kauffman Stadium I attended was when the Arizona Diamondbacks were in town. At the time, we had just moved to Kansas City from the Cleveland area, and as someone who perused the Sunday morning league leaders in the newspaper and watched SportsCenter, one of my favorite players was Randy Johnson. The Big Unit was starting that particular game, and he wrecked the feckless Royals, but it was fun to me.

Tonight, there is no Randy Johnson. Birds everywhere rejoice. But there is one Corbin Burnes and, when healthy, he’s really good. It’ll be a difficult showdown against a Diamondbacks team clinging to one of the Wild Card spots and fighting for their playoff lives.

Diamondbacks 9/8 lineup

Royals 9/8 lineup

Go Rays!

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ active roster is at 28 and the 40-man roster is at 39.

• Reinstated from the 60-day injured list: RHP Corbin Burnes (recovery from right ulnar collateral ligament surgery)
• Recalled from Triple-A Reno: RHP Kade Strowd
• Optioned to Triple-A Reno following yesterday’s game: RHP Gerardo Carrillo
• Optioned to Triple-A Reno today: RHP José Cabrera

There we go. After a little over fifteen months, Corbin Burnes has finally returned to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Obviously, we are not expecting much in the way of length from him today. Probably around four innings. I’d expect the team to lean on Blake Walston for a couple, and then cobble together the final three frames from Strowd, Derek Law and Justin Martinez, with Dennis Santana potentially in the mix as well. It’s certainly going to be a case today of very much threading the needle. If, for whatever reason, Burnes is not able to go four, then there’s going to be a most unwelcome domino effect over the rest of the game.

At long last, the Captain is back.

Aaron Judge has returned to the Yankee lineup, just in time for the lowly Colorado Rockies to come to the Bronx for a three-game series. Better yet, Cam Schlittler will be making the start on the mound to begin this homestand. It’s got all the makings of a joyous night at the Stadium—but you’ve gotta win the games in front of you.

The Rockies enter this series owners of a 55-88 record, dead last in the National League, and second worst in baseball. Their lineup—while below average—is honestly not awful, but their pitching has been characteristically poor: a 5.47 staff ERA and 4.77 FIP. It’s the kind of staff the Yankees, who have been dying to find some offensive consistency, could definitely use as a warm-up for the final push with Judge back in the fold.

Tonight, they’ll be starting Gabriel Hughes, a 25-year-old rookie who has pitched to a 6.19 ERA in his first 11 MLB games. Those numbers are distended by two consecutive seven-run clunkers from a few weeks back—the 4.05 FIP is one of many figures that indicate he’s gotten a bit of a raw deal. Yankee Stadium will be a tough environment for the young man to handle, though.

Schlittler continues to cruise in the second half as he tries to win the Cy Young race with Dylan Cease. His last time out was yet another showstopper: eight innings of one-run ball against the Angels. It’s true that his numbers in Yankee Stadium have been slightly less stellar, but I don’t think he would have preferred to deal with the Coors Field run environment. He’s perfectly content defending home field tonight.

Make sure you’re back home in time for the bottom of the first inning: Aaron Judge will be batting third behind Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger. He’s utterly surrounded by lefties, unsurprisingly: Luis García Jr., Spencer Jones, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. make up the middle of the order after Judge. George Lombard Jr. bats seventh, Ryan McMahon hits eighth, and Austin Wells brings up the caboose.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV/Streaming: YES, Rockies.TV

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 – NYY | KWFN 97.3, XEMO 860 – SD

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Reed Garrett has taken another step in his recovery following last year's elbow injury. 

Garrett caught up with the Mets in Miami for their three-game set, and he was able to throw his first bullpen session as scheduled, on Tuesday afternoon. 

“It’s been a long-while," interim manager Andy Green said. "His stuff looked good out there, threw a lot of strikes, and walked off the mound feeling good about himself.”

Garrett was initially diagnosed with elbow inflammation last August. 

He required just a minimum stay on the injured list, but lasted only four appearances before having to shut things down after feeling renewed discomfort.

The 33-year-old underwent UCL reconstruction surgery in October. 

Garrett has been rehabbing at the team facility in Port St. Lucie throughout the season, and he was able to show his progress in front of team officials for the first time. 

"It was fun seeing Reed back out there today," Green said.

The veteran was never expected to be back healthy with the Mets this season, but checking off these boxes certainly bodes well for his status heading into next year. 

Garrett remained a relatively steady piece for New York’s bullpen before being forced to the sidelines, and he is under club control through the 2029 season. 

Detroit Tigers (66-78) vs. Minnesota Twins (68-76)

Time/Place: 6:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site:Twinkie Town
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Drew Anderson (4-5, 3.73 ERA) vs. RHP Dean Kremer (2-5, 5.81 ERA)

Here’s the Guardians’ lineup:

Here’s the Orioles’ lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

The Braves kick off the second matchup in a streak of five straight series against teams currently in playoff position Tuesday night (7:15 p.m. ET) when the Tampa Bay Rays descend upon Truist Park.

AJ Smith-Shawver gets the start in the opener for Atlanta, looking for better control and a better result after taking his first loss of the season last time out against Washington.

Tampa counters with former Brewers and Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta on the mound.

Follow along and share your thoughts as the Braves get a brief respite from facing the Phillies before Philadelphia heads to Atlanta this weekend for another critical series for playoff seeding.

Game Info

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Lineups