German Marquez Max Scharping Jersey , like the Colorado Rockies, has been much better on the road than at home this season.
Thursday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies. Vince Velasquez will start for the Phillies in the rubber match of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
Marquez (4-6, 4.79 ERA) has a 7.71 ERA in seven home starts and opponents have a .989 OPS against him at hitter-friendly Coors Field. In six starts on the road, however, Marquez owns a 2.06 ERA, 1.086 WHIP and an .606 opponent on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
Marquez is coming off an especially bad home outing. He gave up three home runs in the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks (one each for Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb and David Peralta) last Friday and was charged with five runs in four innings of work.
“The pitches were up,” Colorado manager Bud Black told mlb.com of Marquez. “You look at the inning he gave up three homers … those are pitches that hitters can elevate. If they square them up, they’re going to go out of the park.”
The Rockies improved their road record to 22-15 with an 7-2 win on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. However, Colorado (33-34) is still under .500 because the team is 11-19 at home.
The Phillies have won 21 of their 33 home games but need a win on Thursday to finish 3-3 on their six-game homestand. Gabe Kapler’s team is 3-8 in June and has not won a series in three weeks.
Velasquez (4-7, 4.95 ERA) pitched in the Phillies’ first game of the homestand, and he had one of the worst starts of his career. The 26-year-old gave up a career-high 10 runs on nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers last Friday. Velasquez’s season ERA jumped up by more than a run in the brief outing.
“When he came out, the velocity was down a little bit,” Kapler told mlb.com after Velasquez’s last start. “The stuff didn’t quite look crisp coming out of his hand. We were talking about it on the bench and wondering if he just wasn’t going to have his stuff.”
Velasquez is 1-0 with a 4.35 ERA in four career starts against the Rockies. He has 23 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings against the team.
Velasquez will have to deal with a red-hot Trevor Story on Thursday. Colorado’s shortstop extended his hitting streak to seven games on Wednesday night with a 3-for-5 performance that featured two doubles and two RBIs.
Story has had five straight multi-hit games and is hitting .467 during the seven-game streak. The third-year major leaguer has raised his batting average by 27 points and his OPS by 68 points in the last week.
The Chicago White Sox will go for a series win against the Cleveland Indians when the teams square off Thursday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field on Chicago’s South Side.
Chicago (24-42) has endured a bumpy start to the season but has won two of the first three in its four-game series against the Indians. The White Sox have gone 8-5 in June thanks in large part to better starting pitching.
Meanwhile, Cleveland (35-31) hopes to escape the Windy City with a series split. The Indians remain atop the American League Central standings but have posted an underwhelming 5-6 record in June.
The getaway-day contest will represent the second start of the season for White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon (0-1, 3.60 ERA) Cullen Gillaspia Jersey , who spent two-plus months on the disabled list as he recovered from shoulder surgery.
The White Sox’s 2014 first-round pick (No. 3 overall) allowed four runs (two earned) on six hits in five innings during his season debut Saturday against the Boston Red Sox. He walked two and struck out seven.
Teammates were impressed with Rodon’s assortment of pitches after a long layoff.
“Carlos has that killer (look in his eye) whenever he starts getting a little geeked up, when he’s about to throw some stuff that is going to be unhittable,” White Sox catcher Kevan Smith told The Athletic. “Even whenever we were catching in Triple-A, he had the same things kind of happen. He would pitch out of these jams, and that’s what I’m saying. …
“He has a fastball that … just kind of control it and let it do its work, it’s an impressive pitch.”
In 10 career appearances (nine starts) against the Indians, Rodon is 4-1 with a 2.34 ERA. He has walked 19 and struck out 64 in 61 2/3 innings. The only other team he has beaten four times is the Minnesota Twins.
For the visitors, Indians right-hander Mike Clevinger (4-2, 3.31 ERA) will take the mound for his 14th start of the season. The 27-year-old needs one more win for No. 20 in the big leagues.
Clevinger has pitched six-plus innings in nine of his past 10 outings. In nine of his 13 starts this year, he has given up three earned runs or fewer.
The White Sox have had sporadic success against Clevinger Tytus Howard Jersey , who is 1-2 with a 4.29 ERA against that team in five career appearances (three starts). Clevinger has walked nine and fanned 20 in 21 innings versus Chicago.
Chicago is 12-20 at home this season; Cleveland is 15-20 on the road.
The Indians are still without left-hander Andrew Miller out of the bullpen as he recovers from inflammation in his right knee. Miller threw a bullpen session Wednesday and could face hitters in live batting practice or in a simulated game as part of the next step in his rehabilitation.
“He did well, he did real well, probably his best one yet,” Indians manager Terry Francona told mlb.com. “When we get back home, we’ll see if he’s ready to face hitters.
“How he’s bouncing back is still the biggest challenge, but he’s building up, he’s doing a good job, so we’re making progress, which is good. I’d much rather have that happen than the other way.”