Free Pick | MLB | Wednesday | June 19

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#972 Chicago White Sox (Crochet) +110 over Houston Astros (Brown) 7:10 PM CT

Supporting the White Sox isn’t going to be appealing too often but the 20-54 Southsiders have shown a bit of life with wins in three of the past five games and Chicago has scored at least four runs five times in the past 10 games. A bigger factor in the improvement in recent play has been the pitching staff that has allowed two or fewer runs five times in the past 10 games as well. Garrett Crochet will turn 25 this week and he is quietly having an All-Star season for the White Sox. His FIP is just 2.72 and his K/9 is an amazing 12.6. His home run and walk rates are low and he has six wins in 15 starts, an impressive number considering Chicago’s 27 percent win percentage. Crochet has been a quality start machine with five in a row and seven in his last eight starts and in six of his last eight starts he has allowed zero or just one run. That includes facing several quality teams drawing Baltimore, Milwaukee, Boston, and Seattle in his last four starts. The Chicago bullpen has struggled but does have good numbers in the past five games with a 3.45 ERA and foes batting just .132. Hunter Brown was once a prized prospect for the Astros but now 52 appearances into his MLB career there hasn’t been much to show for it. Brown has good strikeout numbers but is at risk for walks and home runs and for the second straight season his ERA is 5.00 or higher. Brown is coming off back-to-back scoreless quality starts but he faced two of the worst offensive teams in the AL in those outings. Chicago will make it a third favorable start in a row for Brown but so far in June the White Sox have hit 25 home runs, the third most in MLB as the lineup is outperforming its season numbers significantly right now. Houston is just 33-40 as a huge disappointment this season and Crochet can hold Houston to a low number with the Astros riding seven straight games without topping five runs.