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The Los Angeles Angels and the Chicago White Sox square off on Friday with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Noah Syndergaard will be on the hill for the Angels and face White Sox ace Lucas Giolito.
The Angels (13-7) have won five games in a row, including a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Guardians. Mike Trout is doing Mike Trout things, batting .410 with 10 extra-base hits and 11 runs scored over his past 11 games. But get to know outfielder Taylor Ward. He came a single shy of the cycle on Wednesday and has an absurd 1.271 OPS through 42 at-bats thus far. Ward also has three homers and nine RBIs in his previous four games.
The White Sox (7-11) finally snapped an eight-game losing streak with a victory Wednesday, but they fell to the Royals, 5-2, on Thursday. Power-hitting outfielder Luis Robert has missed the past six games with a groin strain, and closer Liam Hendriks has been unavailable recently because of a back injury. Both are day-to-day. Andrew Vaughn has been a bright spot and will head into Friday’s game with a .975 OPS.
Angels vs. White Sox
Pitchers: Noah Syndergaard vs. Lucas Giolito
First pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET
Angels local broadcast: Fox Sports West
TEAM local broadcast: NBC Sports Chicago
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Moneyline odds: White Sox -120, Angels +100
Picks & predictions
Moneyline pick: Angels +100
Chicago is favored because of Giolito and the home-field advantage. And while Giolito has dominated with 15 strikeouts in eight innings this season, Syndergaard has quietly been very good this year. “Thor” isn’t the K machine that he was with the Mets, but he has thrown at least five innings with two or fewer earned runs allowed in each of his first three starts. Opponents have a scant .264 expected slugging percentage against him. He shut out the Astros through 5.1 innings in his previous start. Couple that with the Angels’ hot offense, and you have the makings of a road win for the Halos on Friday.
Player prop pick: Andrew Velazquez U0.5 hits (-125)
The Angels shortstop is not hitting the ball well this season since being called up shortly after the year started. Velazquez is hitting at the bottom of the batting order, so at-bats will be minimized, and he has gone a full week since recording his last hit. With a .122 batting average with a sample size of 41 at-bats, there’s a good shot he fails to reach base with a hit Friday night.
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