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The Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays square off on Friday with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. The White Sox will start with Vince Velasquez on the mound, while Shane McClanahan will throw for the Rays.
Chicago (23-26) is coming off a stretch of three games where they were swept by the Toronto Blue Jays this week as they look to end the losing streak there. Velasquez made eight appearances and seven starts in his first year with the White Sox and has a 5.30 ERA. He was dropped out of the rotation briefly but is back after Dallas Keuchel was designated for assignment. The White Sox struggles at the plate have continued as their on-base percentages ranks third worst in the MLB despite Tim Anderson leading the way with a .393 OBP.
Tampa Bay (30-21) won the final two games of their series with the Texas Rangers and will go for a third straight victory on Friday night. McClanahan has been excellent in his second year in the big leagues with a 2.01 ERA over 10 starts in 2022 and gave up just 2 earned runs over his previous four starts, a span of 26 innings. The Rays have the fourth-worst OBP with Yandy Diaz coming in with a team-high .393 on-base percentage.
White Sox vs. Rays
Pitchers: Vince Velasquez vs. Shane McClanahan
First pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET
White Sox local broadcast: NBC Sports Chicago
Rays local broadcast: Bally Sports Sun
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run line: Rays -1.5 (+105)
Run total: 7
Moneyline odds: Rays -200, White Sox +170
Moneyline pick: Rays -200
The Rays have such a pitching advantage in this matchup that I couldn’t imagine recommending the White Sox to pull off a victory in Game 1 of this series. Teams are struggling to do much of anything against McClanahan, and the White Sox lineup hasn’t done much to assume they’ll come out hot on Friday night.
Player prop pick: Shane McClanahan Under 7.5 strikeouts (-150)
McClanahan threw at least seven strikeouts in nine of 10 starts this season, but the White Sox should get enough contact to keep this strikeout total below the oddsmakers projection. For as bad as Chicago has been at scoring runs and getting on base, they strike out the fourth-fewest times per game in the MLB.
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