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Alright boys, the Sox have reclaimed 2nd place in the Central after last night’s win and now are four games back of the divisional lead. A win tonight would put us back at .500, which would be a nice milestone with Lynn & Eloy coming back soon and hopefully Anderson in a few more weeks. It would also ensure that we’re at .500 heading into six games against the Rangers & Tigers. As such, wining one of these next two games will be huge. Tonight will prove the more challenging games of the two remaining with the Dodgers. On the mound for LA is Tony Gonsolin, who currently sits 6-0 with a 1.59 ERA, 3.04 FIP, and a 90th percentile xwOBA. Beyond just being awesome to start this year, the dude has a wide assortment of secondary pitches that should pose problems for us. Against righties, he primarily uses his slider (.152 wOBA | .255 xwOBA) and against lefties a combination of a split finger fastball (.143 wOBA | .194 xwOBA) and a curve (.000 wOBA | .048 xwOBA). As such, Tony won’t just be able to stack the lineup with bad LH hitting tonight. Gonsolin’s biggest weakness has traditionally been his walk rate, so if I’m Tony I’m probably starting every guy who has a semblance of plate discipline and hoping Cueto can keep us alive until we reach their bullpen. Unfortunately we don’t have many players that fit that billing, so I’d look to prioritize defense where possible (i.e. Pollock in LF & Engel in RF). Also, I pray that Legend and his two walks will be on the bench, but fully expect Tony to bat him leadoff due to his speed & switch hitting abilities. This game isn’t going to be easy and will likely come down to Cueto’s pitching performance tonight. If he can limit the Dodgers to two runs over say six we may be able to squeak out a win. If not, at least Thursday poses a far more favorable matchup for us. Either way, we got nothing to lose tonight given the tough matchup and hopefully the offense can find a way to surprise us. Let’s fucking go!!!!