The Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago White Sox meet Thursday in MLB action from Guaranteed Rate Field. This will be the finale in a three-game series. The White Sox took a five-run victory in the opener, then in the Wednesday game two Chicago kept it going with another five-run win. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.

Cleveland Guardians

Cleveland gave up six runs in the fifth inning in the Tuesday opener of this series, eventually falling 8-3. On Wednesday the Guardians were up 1-0 early but eventually fell 7-2. Starting pitcher Peyton Battenfield managed 4.1 innings with five earned on nine hits and a walk.

For the starter job in the Thursday matchup, Cleveland will go with Logan Allen. Over his four starts this year (the first four of his MLB career) Allen is 1-1 with a 3.43 ERA and 24 Ks in 21.0 innings.

Chicago White Sox

Over on the White Sox’ side, they posted a whopping 16 team hits (and gave up nine) in the Tuesday opener of this series. On Wednesday Chicago out-hit the Guardians 12-6. Mike Clevinger went 6.0 innings in the start with two earned, six hits and four walks.

It’ll be Dylan Cease in the starter role for the Sox on Thursday. Across his nine starts in 2023 Cease is 2-2 with a 4.86 ERA and 54 Ks in 46.1 innings. Cease is 38-28 with a 3.67 ERA in 99 career MLB starts.

The Guardians are 23-9 in their last 32 in game three of a series and the under is 6-0 in the last six in game three of a series. The under is 18-7 in Cleveland’s last 26 Thursday games.

Meanwhile, the Sox are 10-22 in their last 32 overall and 7-19 in their last 26 in game three of a series. Chicago is 7-20 in their last 27 Thursday games.

ANDREW’S FREE PICK

I’ll stick with the Guardians in this one. It should be a pretty good starter matchup regardless, though. Allen was a bit sketchy in his last start versus the Angels (4.1 innings; eight hits; two walks; three earned) but overall he hasn’t been too bad lately with seven earned over his last 15.0 innings. As for Cease, he had a bad start in Kansas City recently but bounced back with 6.0 clean frames against the Astros. In the Wednesday game Cleveland got a tough outing from Battenfield but the bullpen was solid overall. I like the Guardians to prevent the sweep in game three.