Detroit at Chicago

Detroit and Chicago have traded body blows all series, not gently. Tuesday's meeting slipped by four runs, Wednesday's by two, and the Tigers answered both by hanging eleven on the White Sox bullpen yesterday. A back-and-forth series like this usually comes down to who's on the mound, and today's matchup tilts toward Detroit. Jackson Jobe turned in his best outing of the season last time out, striking out eight over six-plus innings against Colorado. Sean Burke starts for Chicago today after a one-inning meltdown against Pittsburgh that he needed to bounce back from, and the White Sox have dropped seven of their last ten games as the season winds down and not much is left to play for. Detroit's staff has the better team ERA here, and the same White Sox pitching staff gave up eleven runs to this Tigers lineup yesterday. A club playing out the string has little incentive to grind out a one-run save, and Detroit has the real motivation left this weekend. Detroit is the right side on the runline this afternoon, and I don't expect Chicago's fading bullpen to keep this one within reach.