Game Thread: Reds (57-62) at White Sox (62-57)

Luis Castillo did his best executioner impression last night, slicing up his old squad, and now Chicago heads into the rubber match with a chance to boot the Reds out of town licking their wounds. For that to happen, though, the Sox need Davis Martin to show up as someone other than the batting practice pitcher he’s been lately.

Martin’s season has taken a pretty ugly turn since June, and the recent numbers aren’t doing him any favors. Over his last seven starts, he owns a 7.80 ERA and 1.77 WHIP, and his outing in Boston was especially brutal. Martin was tagged for nine runs over five innings in the 14-2 loss, with the White Sox later saying he had been tipping pitches. Hopefully that explains at least some of the carnage, because Chicago desperately needs him to get back on track. With Castillo giving the bullpen a much-needed breather by tossing seven scoreless innings last night, Martin’s job today is simple: keep the Reds from putting up a crooked number early and give the offense a chance.

Cincinnati counters with lefthander Andrew Abbott, who enters the afternoon 6-7 with a 3.92 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. Those numbers certainly aren’t terrifying, so this feels like an opportunity for the Sox offense to build on last night rather than making another opposing pitcher look like a Cy Young candidate. Abbott has been hittable, and Chicago needs to make him work, get traffic on the bases and — this is always the important part — actually do something with it.

Here’s how Will Venable will send them out against Abbott:

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This is how the Reds will line up versus Martin:

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Last night belonged to Castillo. Today, the spotlight shifts to Martin. A solid outing would go a long way toward quieting some concerns about his miserable pitching of late, and more importantly, it would give the South Siders a chance to take two of three from Cincinnati. Win the rubber match, take the series and move along. Sounds easy enough, right?

First pitch has been moved up an hour to 12:10 p.m. CDT due to weather. The game will be televised on CHSN and can be heard on ESPN Chicago 1000.