Frankie v Carlos Rodon; Righty Lineup & Notes

Today's Game: Francisco Liriano (3-5, 3.25) faces Carlos Rodon (2-0, 2.66) to open the brief home & home White Sox set. Liriano has gone 2-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 35 strikeouts in his last four starts (27IP). Frankie has gone 5-1 with a 3.89 ERA in his last eight appearances against the ChiSox, all coming as a member of the Twins, but those stats are pretty dusty. He hasn't faced Chicago since 2012, the year he was traded to the White Sox before joining the Bucs after the season.

Rodon, 22, has so far put together quite an impressive rookie campaign (he was the #3 overall pick in the 2014 draft), with a wipeout slider his main weapon. He's a wild child, averaging five walks per game (tho he has been improving in that category), but also rings up a punch out per frame and has a 1.11 ERA over his last four starts. The game starts at 7:05 and will be on Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

JT back in the saddle tonight (photo Charles LeClaire/USA Today)

The Lineup - Josh Harrison 2B, Starling Marte LF, Cutch CF, Jung-Ho Kang 3B, Fran Cervelli C, Jose Tabata RF, Jordy Mercer SS, Sean Rodriguez 1B, Liriano P.

The lefties are sitting down again, including de facto LH Neil Walker. JT has put Corey Hart back on the bench; might be about time to move on from him.

The White Sox (28-33) are running hot and cold. They swept the Astros at home, then were swept by Tampa on the road prior to this series. The Bucs are getting a break in the four game home & home series as they miss Chris Sales, who pitched yesterday.

• Couple of baby-step hitting streaks going on - Starling has a five-gamer and Josh has put up four in a row.
• Francisco Cervelli has caught 33 consecutive scoreless innings over the course of three games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is longest such streak by a Bucco catcher since Manny Sanguillen went 38 straight goose egg frames in May of 1972.
• Chicago has three lefties lined up to go against the Bucs; Pittsburgh is 5-4 v southpaw starters so far this season.
• The Pirates tossed their sixth shutout yesterday; that's how many they had in all of 2014.
• The White Sox are 17-9 all-time against the Pirates and have won eight of their last nine, but the two teams haven't met since 2010.
• They will be a couple of familiar faces on the White Sox roster: Zack Duke in the pen and Adam LaRoche, who's listed as a DH. 
• Willie Garcia was just promoted from Altoona to Indy, as was Keon Broxton a couple or two three weeks ago. That leaves the Indians with too many outfielders; there's a hot mess of speculation that a move is in the works, either on the roster (lookin' at you, Corey) or possibly positioning young talent to show before the deadline.
• Quick organizational injury updates: Andrew Lambo is on-again, off-again with his plantar fasciitis, rehabbing at Pirate City; Jameson Taillon is throwing 3-4 inning stints at extended spring training (still no timetable for a return to action), and Tyler Glasnow is shut down until his ankle is 100% as a precautionary move. Nick Kingham and Brandon Cumpton are out for the year with TJ surgeries.