Game Thread: White Sox (65-60) at Cubs (74-53)

After two straight gut-punch walk-off losses at Wrigley Field, the White Sox will try to salvage the finale of the Crosstown series this afternoon before heading back to the South Side. Despite the back-to-back heartbreakers, the Sox still hold a four-game lead over the Twins in the AL Central, but there isn’t much time to dwell on what went wrong on the North Side. Atlanta comes to town tomorrow for a makeup game, followed by a big weekend series against the Mets, so stealing one from the Cubs today would be a nice way to build some momentum before another important stretch.

The bigger concern right now might be finding enough healthy, rested arms to get through it. The pitching staff is running on fumes after the Sox emptied the tank during last weekend’s sweep of the Tigers, and the effects have been pretty obvious over the first two games at Wrigley. Noah Schultz is back in Charlotte, Davis Martin is on the IL, and Shane Smith remains on the 40-man roster but hasn’t exactly made a compelling case to return, going 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA and 2.52 WHIP over 8 1/3 innings in his last seven appearances with the Knights. Drew Thorpe is another intriguing possibility after three encouraging rehab outings between Birmingham and Charlotte following Tommy John surgery, but he isn’t currently on the 40-man roster. Ultimately, we can only guess where the reinforcements will come from, but something has to give.

For today, Sean Newcomb gets the ball as the opener, with José Urquidy expected to handle the bulk of the innings. Urquidy’s White Sox debut on Aug. 14 against Detroit didn’t exactly inspire confidence, as the righthander surrendered three runs on five hits over 3 2/3 innings. If the Sox have any hope of giving their bullpen a chance to recover, they desperately need length from him today. His Statcast profile offers a pretty clear roadmap for how he needs to attack the Cubs: Urquidy has struggled with walks and doesn’t generate many strikeouts, so getting ahead and forcing Chicago to put the ball in play will be critical. He also hasn’t qualified in several of Baseball Savant’s run-value categories, but his four-seamer, sweeper, changeup and curveball give him enough variety to keep hitters from sitting on one pitch. Against an aggressive Cubs lineup, pounding the zone and avoiding free passes might be more important than trying to miss bats.

The Cubs counter with Clay Holmes, who has made two starts since coming over from the Mets. His most recent outing came Aug. 14 against the Cardinals, when he earned the win and quality start with 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out three. Holmes’ Baseball Savant numbers show exactly what makes him difficult: His overall pitching run value sits in the 82nd percentile, with his breaking stuff in the 83rd, while his sinker ranks in the 91st percentile. He also sits in the 98th percentile in ground-ball rate and the 95th percentile in launch-angle sweet-spot percentage. In other words, the Sox probably aren’t going to beat him by pounding the ball into the dirt. Holmes doesn’t generate a ton of whiffs or strikeouts, though, and his hard-hit rate is only in the 12th percentile. The best approach is to make him work, resist chasing his pitches off the plate and look for something they can elevate rather than helping him pile up quick ground-ball outs. With Holmes ranking in the 80th percentile in chase rate, discipline outside the zone will be especially important.

Venable is going with almost the exact same lineup as yesterday, with Sam Antonacci getting the leadoff assignment and Chase Meidroth batting seventh. Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas and Andrew Benintendi follow Antonacci, while Braden Montgomery bats fifth and Colson Montgomery sixth. The only difference from last night is that Jake Rogers slots in at backstop. Against a ground-ball machine like Holmes, getting traffic at the top and finding a way to elevate the baseball will be key. Mune hit his 29th home run last night and has a 32-game on-base streak, so hopefully the rookie can keep that going today.

On the other side, Pete Crow-Armstrong — who has already terrorized the Sox throughout this series — gets a day off his feet at DH but remains atop the Cubs’ order, followed by Seiya Suzuki, Alex Bregman and Michael Busch. So, you know, Urquidy can ease into things.

First pitch is at 1:20 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised on CHSN and can be heard on ESPN Chicago 1000. Hopefully, today’s ending is a little less painful.