A game between two teams that stand a combined five games over .500 heading into the final week of August would not normally be considered a potential playoff preview.
But in the parity-ridden American League, the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers might be offering a glimpse of a possible division-series duel Monday night when the White Sox host the Rangers in the opener of a three-game series.
Jose Urquidy (2-1, 5.06 ERA) is expected to start for the White Sox against the Rangers’ Kumar Rocker (4-10, 4.46) in a contest of right-handers.
Both teams won the rubber game of a three-game series at home on Sunday afternoon. Tristan Peters hit a walk-off homer in the ninth inning to lift the White Sox to a 2-1 win over the New York Mets, and Cal Quantrill tossed six scoreless innings and earned the victory for the Rangers as they beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3.
The White Sox’s second walk-off win of the weekend kept them 3 1/2 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians atop the AL Central race and continued one of the season’s most surprising Cinderella stories.
The walk-off win was the 11th of the season for the White Sox, who are 23-20 in one-run games after a combined 47-95 in such contests over the previous three seasons — a span in which Chicago was 162-324 overall.
“It replicates playoff games pretty well with how close they are and how late they are,” White Sox rookie outfielder Sam Antonacci said of the one-run wins. “Being able to have a bunch of those under our belt if we are fortunate enough to make the playoffs, that’s one of our goals. Just hit the ground running.”
Chicago (68-62) also is 3 1/2 games ahead of the Rangers and the Houston Astros, the AL West co-leaders, for the second seed in the AL and the final playoff bye. The Guardians, Rangers and Astros are 65-66.
The Rangers and Guardians are tied for the final wild-card spot, though there are five teams within 3 1/2 games of them.
The win Sunday gave Texas at least a share of first place in the AL West for the first time since July 30 and continued its roller-coaster month.
The Rangers won four straight games immediately following the Aug. 3 trade deadline before losing six of eight. Texas then went 4-2 against the Angels and Washington Nationals while allowing just 13 runs during the six-game homestand that ended Sunday.
“Could we have played better? Of course,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I think anybody would say that in that clubhouse. However, the goal is to win each series, and we did that.”
Urquidy, who would make his first start of the season, earned the win last Wednesday, when he tossed six scoreless innings of bulk relief as the White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0. The White Sox acquired Urquidy from Pittsburgh before the trade deadline for a minor league pitching prospect, and he is 2-0 with a 2.79 ERA since.
Rocker took the defeat Wednesday after allowing two runs over five innings in the Rangers’ 6-0 loss to the Nationals.
Urquidy is 5-0 with a 2.82 ERA in seven career starts against the Rangers, and Rocker is 2-0 with an 0.00 ERA in two starts against the White Sox spanning 11 innings.
Rocker threw six scoreless, one-hit innings against the White Sox on July 21, earning the 10-0 win.
–Field Level Media
