7-12-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN on X
The Pittsburgh Pirates head into their final series before the All-Star break on Friday, heading to the other side of Chicago to face the reeling Chicago White Sox.
Pittsburgh is coming off of a massive series victory of the NL Central rival Milwaukee Brewers, winning the rubber match on Thursday thanks to seven no-hit innings from Paul Skenes and strong efforts from Colin Holderman and Aroldis Chapman to shut things down.
Meanwhile, the White Sox enter this one 41 games under-.500 and coming off a series loss to the Minnesota Twins. Chicago has lost three consecutive series, with their last series win coming against the Colorado Rockies on June 30.
Pittsburgh enters this series 4-3 versus AL Central opponents this season, with the White Sox being just the third team they’ve faced in the division. The Pirates are also 5-5 in July, looking for a massive boost heading into the All-Star break, as a three-game sweep would place them at exactly .500.
To put it kindly, the White Sox have been terrible, having no double digit win total months up to this point. They are a much better team at home though, posting a 17-31 home record compared to a 10-37 road record.
This is the only meeting between the Pirates and White Sox this season.
7-12
Pirates – TBD
White Sox – Garrett Crochet (L) – 6-6, 105.1 IP, 3.08 ERA, 146 Ks/22 walks, 0.97 WHIP
7-13
Pirates – Luis Ortiz (R) 4-2, 61.0 IP, 2.95 ERA, 52 Ks/18 walks, 1.18 WHIP
White Sox – Chris Flexen (R) 2-7, 91 IP, 4.95 ERA, 67 Ks/34 walks, 1.38 WHIP
7-14
Pirates – Mitch Keller (R) 10-5, 111.1 IP, 3.40 ERA, 102 Ks/27 walks, 1.22 WHIP
White Sox – TBD
Pirates: Luis Ortiz
I usually reserve Who’s Hot and Who’s Not for position players, but what I have seen from Luis Ortiz recently, and truly all season, has amazed me.
Ortiz will enter his Saturday start versus the White Sox with a 1.13 ERA in July, coming off a 3.22 ERA in June. Swapping between a starting role and long relief role, Ortiz has helped the Pirates in many ways, a Swiss Army knife of sorts, and against a White Sox lineup that hasn’t been great recently(.222 batting average in their last 10 games), I expect Ortiz to continue his 2024 success.
White Sox: Martin Maldonado
2024 has been absolutely dreadful for the White Sox as a whole, but it’s especially been so for Martin Maldonado.
Despite his struggles, Maldonado has had a good go of things as of late, slugging .789 and hitting three homers in his past 19 at-bats. He homered twice in the previous series for the White Sox versus Minnesota, so he has something to build off entering this series versus Pittsburgh.
Pirates: Andrew McCutchen
Andrew McCutchen has been a solid leadoff option for a large portion of the season for the Pirates, but he has struggled a ton as of late.
McCutchen is batting .137 over his 51 at-bats, including 16 strikeouts. He is still getting on base often via the free pass, but his bat has cooled off considerably since a strong May and somewhat strong June.
Don’t expect Cutch to get removed from the lineup in any drastic fashion, but his production has to return for the Pirates to keep feeling comfortable rolling him out at the top of the order.
White Sox: Paul DeJong
Paul DeJong has been the White Sox most consistent bat, due to Luis Robert Jr. being sidelined with injury for a large part of the year, but recently, DeJong has struggled a ton.
DeJong has a .200/.250/.327 slash with two home runs in his past 15 games, striking out 19 times in that span.
His .228 season batting average could also tell you how cold the White Sox lineup has been for most of the season, but they need DeJong to be above average to make a massive difference, and he just hasn’t done that over the past two weeks.
Key Injuries
The Pirates, of course, are dealing with pitching injuries, as both Bailey Falter and Jared Jones are out through the All-Star break, with Jones expected to be sidelined until August. Ryan Borucki and David Bednar are on rehab assignments in AA-Altoona, with their returns expected soon. Marco Gonzales also seems to be nearing a return, seeing as he was on a similar trajectory as Quinn Priester, who returned to the Pirates this week.
The White Sox have a ton of injuries, especially on the 60-day injured list, as Yoan Moancada, Max Stassi, Dominic Leone, Jimmy Lambert, Matt Foster and Jesse Scholtens are all on the long-term injured list. Mike Clevinger is currently out with an elbow injury and is important to the White Sox rotation, so his loss is felt as well on the more short-term side.
Things to Look For
I want to specifically look at the Friday matchup before anything, as the Pirates will face the best Chicago has to offer in Garrett Crochet, who has been a marvel this year.
Crochet’s 146 strikeouts are the most in baseball and he ranks 5th in WHIP, so he’ll be a force the Pirates offense will have to figure out. It’s honestly the most intriguing matchup of the entire series, as Pittsburgh is much better against left-handed pitching versus right-handed pitching, posting a .295 BABIP versus southpaws compared to a .277 BABIP versus right-handers.
As for the rest of the series, its about handling business against an inferior opponent in Chicago and going into the All-Star break with momentum, especially off the heels of a massive series win versus Milwaukee. If the offense can score in all three games, which seems to be like asking for world peace, then their chances of a series win go up massively. If they don’t, which we’ve seen play out in the past two series, I could see the White Sox maybe sneaking up on Pittsburgh, and that would be a dagger to the heart just ahead of the break.
This is a must-win, I would even argue must-sweep, for the Pirates, and it begins Friday at 8pm ET in Chicago.
Steel City Pirates 
Great picks, all four of them. Ortiz isn’t getting the credit I feel he deserves, whereas Cutch seems to get BOTD no matter how bad he performs. On a team with more than three or four hitters, I don’t think he’d be so easily keeping his slot.
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