Wins have been hard to come by for the Chicago White Sox, but the organization was able to celebrate with hordes of South Siders when new Pope Leo XIV was confirmed as a lifelong fan by his brother on Thursday.
The White Sox will look to reward the native Chicagoan — the Sun-Times published a picture of the new pope wearing a Sox jersey while attending a 2005 World Series game — with a victory on Friday when they begin a three-game series against the visiting Miami Marlins.
Chicago is eager to return home after losing four straight to the Kansas City Royals. The White Sox scored a total of four runs in the series and were outhit 17-6 in Thursday’s finale, losing 10-0.
“Not good,” Chicago manager Will Venable said. “We just couldn’t get anything going offensively — at the end, the game got away from us.”
Miami also is searching for answers after losing 10-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. The Marlins have dropped nine of their last 11 games.
One bright spot for Miami has been the play of rookie catcher Agustin Ramirez, who is hitting .283 with four homers in his first 14 games.
Ramirez’s encouraging start extends to his play behind the plate. The 23-year-old drew praise after throwing out Shohei Ohtani attempting to steal second in Wednesday’s game.
“We talked a lot about (Ramirez), the big part of his development now moving forward, ability to continue behind the plate,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said. “He’s working hard on his throwing, and that was a really strong, accurate throw to get Shohei.”
The Marlins are carrying three active catchers on their roster, with Nick Fortes and Liam Hicks joining Ramirez. McCullough said all three will receive fairly regular playing time.
“It’ll sort itself out,” McCullough said. “All of them will be in the mix. It will be just kind of mixing and matching and moving around. They’re all going to get opportunities to start and within games as well.”
Right-hander Max Meyer (2-3, 3.92 ERA) will take the mound in the series opener for Miami. He allowed five runs on 10 hits over five-plus innings in a no-decision against the Athletics last Saturday.
The 26-year-old Meyer has given up 10 runs across nine innings in his last two starts after striking out a career-high 14 batters over six scoreless innings in a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on April 21.
Meyer is set to make his first career appearance against the White Sox. He is 1-2 with a 4.41 ERA in three road starts this season.
Chicago will counter with right-hander Bryse Wilson (0-1, 5.56), who gave up four runs over 4 2/3 innings in a no-decision against the Houston Astros last Sunday.
Wilson, 27, is set to make his third start of the season after being used primarily as a long reliever. He has made 54 starts over eight seasons in the majors.
“I just try to go out there and attack hitters the same way in both roles,” Wilson said. “It’s a little different seeing guys multiple times through the order. It’s just going out and attacking the strike zone and being as efficient as possible.”
Wilson is 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA in five career games (two starts) against the Marlins.
–Field Level Media
