Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox preview, Saturday 8/22, 7:15 CT

Something I had not noticed before Friday’s game (numbers are through Friday):

White Sox vs. LH starters: 7-0
White Sox vs. RH starters: 9-11

White Sox OPS vs. LHP: .994
White Sox OPS vs. RHP: 731

Things should be vastly improved tonight. (Note to David Ross: Try to avoid starting Jon Lester or Jose Quintana when the Cubs face the White Sox next month.)

Saturday notes...

• THE PROFESSOR: Kyle Hendricks is 8-2 with a 1.96 ERA (24 earned runs in 110 innings) in his last 16 starts at Wrigley Field dating to April 19 of last season, recording 15 quality starts. That’s the second-best home ERA in that span behind only Hyun Jin Ryu (1.88). More on The Professor below.
• FOR THE DEFENSE: The Cubs are second in the N.L. and third in the majors with 16 defensive runs saved, according to Fangraphs. The Dodgers lead with 25 defensive runs saved this season followed by the Twins (21).
• WINNING BIG, LOSING BIG: The Cubs have posted a 2.41 ERA (38 earned runs in 142 innings) with a .251 average (126-for-502) and an .821 OPS in the team’s 16 victories. But in the Cubs’ nine losses, they have an 8.17 ERA (69 earned runs in 76 innings) with a .184 average (52-for-283) and a .588 OPS.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

White Sox lineup:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Reynaldo Lopez, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Hendricks has made five starts this year. Four of them have been good-to-excellent, the fifth not so much.

Kyle has made seven career starts vs. the White Sox with a 3.55 ERA and 1.263 WHIP, not too far off his overall career numbers. Current members of the Sox are 20-for-73 with one home run off him (Eloy Jimenez). Kyle will have to keep Sox hitters off-balance and induce weak contact in order to win, because we don’t want to see a repeat of Friday’s homer barrage.

Reynaldo Lopez made one start this year, July 26 vs. the Twins, faced seven batters, retired two of them and then departed with what was eventually diagnosed as a shoulder issue. He’s been out since then and this start could very well only last an inning or two.

Lopez has made one career start against the Cubs, September 21, 2018. He threw seven solid innings that day, allowing five hits and one run with eight strikeouts. It doesn’t seem likely that will be repeated today.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here is a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on NBC Sports Chicago with the Sox announcers Jason Benetti and Steve Stone.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation White Sox site South Side Sox. If you do go there to interact with White Sox fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2020 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used in previous years. Here’s how it works.

You’ll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week/Date) Game Threads” so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in the game’s StoryStream as noted above.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.