Second straight game moved up to beat storms
Having Wednesday’s game against the Mets moved up because a severe storm forecast for New York paid off for the Sox, as both starting pitchers got discombobulated by the time switch, but the Mets starter more so. Today’s game is moved up fewer hours, but the Sox can hope for the same impact.
To counter the game being moved up to 3:30 p.m. Central, Will Venable is inserting Jared Shuster as an opener, giving scheduled starter Sean Burke a chance to begin on a time schedule he’s more prepared for. Shuster sports a terrible 6.59 ERA but much better 2.56 FIP and a 1.829 WHIP that falls between the two extremes. He’s also been very good all season at Triple-A Charlotte, generally filling a long relief role.
No such move by the Orioles, with veteran righty Zack Eflin trying to get on track, as he’s having his worst season since 2017. Eflin has been particularly awful his last two starts, giving up four earned runs in five innings against Boston and eight in 5 1⁄3 to the Nationals.
Zeflin will face a Sox lineup that has Luis Robert Jr. back in center after a brief injury outage.
Shuster and Burke will face an Orioles lineup that has not only been terrible, but will be without its best hitter, Cedric Mullins, who went on the IL this morning.
First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 Central, which may give the two teams shorter than than an hour before the storms move in. Usual broadcast suspects, with Dan Plesac continuing to sub for Steve Stone in the TV booth.