Chicago White Sox vs Cleveland Guardians Starting Lineup — Thursday, Jul 2, 2026
Final Lineups
Chicago White Sox @ Cleveland Guardians · Thursday, Jul 2, 2026
Miguel Vargas has done damage in a small sample against Slade Cecconi, going 1-for-2 with a 1.500 OPS, while Kyle Teel is 2-for-5 with a .400 average and .800 OPS. Colson Montgomery is 1-for-2 in 4 PA against Cecconi with a 2.750 OPS, and Chase Meidroth is 1-for-2 with a 2.500 OPS. Andrew Benintendi is hitless against him, with a 0-for-4 summary across 4 AB and 4 PA and a .000 OPS, while Sam Antonacci, Braden Montgomery, Tristan Peters, and Jacob Gonzalez have no MLB history vs that pitcher.
Steven Kwan brings the deepest track record against Davis Martin, going 4-for-9 in 11 PA with a .444 average and .989 OPS. Gabriel Arias is 2-for-5 with a .400 average and .800 OPS, Kyle Manzardo is 2-for-7 with a .286 average and 1.000 OPS, and Brayan Rocchio is 1-for-4 with a .250 average and .500 OPS. Travis Bazzana, Chase DeLauter, Kahlil Watson, Cooper Ingle, and Patrick Bailey have no MLB history vs that pitcher.
The away side has several hitters with prior success against Cecconi, but the home side features the most established familiarity thanks to Kwan’s 11 plate appearances and multiple other regulars with meaningful history. Overall, the home lineup looks slightly more experienced against the opposing starter.
| # | Batter | AVG | OBP | OPS | HR | RBI | vAVG | vOPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Antonacci | 0.278 | 0.367 | 0.776 | 8 | 35 | — | — |
| 2 | Miguel Vargas | 0.239 | 0.343 | 0.830 | 27 | 71 | 0.500 | 1.500 |
| 3 | Kyle Teel | 0.190 | 0.271 | 0.588 | 2 | 14 | 0.400 | 0.800 |
| 4 | Andrew Benintendi | 0.248 | 0.310 | 0.734 | 12 | 60 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| 5 | Colson Montgomery | 0.210 | 0.289 | 0.720 | 26 | 70 | 0.500 | 2.750 |
| 6 | Braden Montgomery | 0.237 | 0.327 | 0.706 | 4 | 28 | — | — |
| 7 | Chase Meidroth | 0.280 | 0.355 | 0.774 | 12 | 49 | 0.500 | 2.500 |
| 8 | Tristan Peters | 0.271 | 0.332 | 0.757 | 7 | 42 | — | — |
| 9 | Jacob Gonzalez | 0.234 | 0.287 | 0.683 | 6 | 28 | — | — |
| # | Batter | AVG | OBP | OPS | HR | RBI | vAVG | vOPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travis Bazzana | 0.237 | 0.334 | 0.709 | 9 | 36 | — | — |
| 2 | Chase DeLauter | 0.286 | 0.358 | 0.801 | 13 | 57 | — | — |
| 3 | Kyle Manzardo | 0.215 | 0.306 | 0.684 | 13 | 39 | 0.286 | 1.000 |
| 4 | Kahlil Watson | 0.239 | 0.264 | 0.605 | 1 | 11 | — | — |
| 5 | Brayan Rocchio | 0.254 | 0.317 | 0.695 | 10 | 51 | 0.250 | 0.500 |
| 6 | Cooper Ingle | 0.095 | 0.208 | 0.303 | 0 | 2 | — | — |
| 7 | Gabriel Arias | 0.235 | 0.273 | 0.644 | 5 | 11 | 0.400 | 0.800 |
| 8 | Patrick Bailey | 0.186 | 0.244 | 0.541 | 6 | 24 | — | — |
| 9 | Steven Kwan | 0.268 | 0.369 | 0.701 | 2 | 23 | 0.444 | 0.989 |
Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Guardians (2026-07-02). Davis Martin vs Slade Cecconi at Progressive Field.
Davis Martin enters this contest with a significantly stronger season ERA of 3.00 and a WHIP of 1.18 across 93 innings, compared to Slade Cecconi's 4.18 ERA and 1.36 WHIP over 90.1 innings. Martin also demonstrates superior strikeout ability with a K/9 of 8.71 against Cecconi's 6.97, while maintaining better control with a BB/9 of 2.32 versus Cecconi's 2.89. Recent trends indicate Martin's ERA is trending up, but he boasts a high quality start percentage of 66.7 and a stable alternating pattern, suggesting reliability despite the upward trend. Conversely, Cecconi's ERA is also trending up, accompanied by a concerning 33.3% blow-up rate and a low 16.7% quality start percentage, indicating a higher propensity for poor outings.
Offensively, the White Sox exhibit a higher OPS of 0.738 and have scored 410 runs, outperforming the Guardians' 0.677 OPS and 345 runs. The White Sox also hold an advantage in home runs with 119 compared to the Guardians' 79. On the pitching side, the Guardians possess a better team ERA of 3.77 and a lower WHIP of 1.26, indicating a more effective overall pitching staff than the White Sox, who have a 4.23 team ERA and 1.33 WHIP. The Guardians' pitching also records a higher K/9 at 9.27 compared to the White Sox's 8.51.
The recent head-to-head matchups between these two clubs have heavily favored the Guardians, who have won 11 of their last 13 encounters against the White Sox. Many of these games have been low-scoring affairs, with totals frequently falling below the current 8.0 line. Given the Guardians' pitching advantage and the historical low-scoring nature of these matchups, combined with Martin's solid season numbers, the 8.0 total line suggests a potential for another tightly contested game, despite Cecconi's recent struggles.