Pregame notes: The White Sox couldn’t sweep a series, could they?

CINCINNATI -- Reds manager Terry Francona has gone against a lot of White Sox teams in the past and provided some good insight on their brand of baseball in previous interviews.

For perhaps the most complimentary of reasons, he wasn't inclined to discuss them at length on Thursday morning.

"They've kind of had their way with us," Francona said.

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Tim Elko, Edgar Quero and Chase Meidroth are all getting days off before a weekend in Wrigley Field. Quero caught the first two games of this series and Will Venable acknowledged that Meidroth, still playing with his right shoulder taped up, is banged up to a degree that merits usage management.

As for Elko getting his first day out of the lineup since being called up, Venable vocalized his view of not seeing the rookie and Andrew Vaughn in a battle for at-bats.

"There's this narrative of like Elko versus Vaughn, which I understand, but that's just not the case," Venable said. "I don't know if [Vaughn] feels that or not. I was transparent with him when we were bringing Elko up, to give him a heads up that it was happening, and that it was not an Elko versus Vaughn thing."

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Brooks Baldwin's work as a regular outfielder is mostly a function of Andrew Benintendi, Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater all being on the injured list simultaneously. And it's the natural fate of a utilityman, especially one that rotates between the outfield and infield, to rate more poorly defensively than they would if they specialized a single position. But after doubles from Elly De La Cruz and Salvador Perez have gotten over his head in left field recently, that's where the bulk of Baldwin's -4 Outs Above Average on the season is coming from.

"He's made some really good plays, especially for a guy that doesn't have a ton of experience," Venable said. "At the same time, I think you see some of that inexperience come out. Being out there, the toughest plays that you're gonna have are the balls over your head hit right at you, and we saw that in Kansas City with the Perez ball that he wasn't able to get and then last night. So I think this is part of his development and just getting experience out there and being challenged by those plays. But you look at him moving side to side, coming in on balls, he's doing a really good job."

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To fill in some changes to the White Sox operation that Francona did not expound upon, they are more aggressive in trying to control the running game than previous iterations, which they view as a function of necessity.

"Obviously you're trying to get them out, that's one thing, but it also helps once you show it and it's in the scouting report, it helps shorten guys up," Josh Rojas said of his enthusiasm for calling for backpicks. "If you're on a team like LA or New York where you have guys who are going to slug your way to wins, that's a different story. Maybe you just play to make the routine plays. But the way this team's built, we're built on athleticism. We're going to have to chip away on scoring runs, and it's the same thing on defense. We get guys in scoring position or on base, we've got to find ways to eliminate them."

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Miguel Vargas is hitting .303/.387/.500 with nine walks and seven strikeouts in 18 games since making his hand setup adjustment.

As an extremely NL Central pitcher, Bryse Wilson has a 2.21 ERA against the Reds in 53 career innings facing them, with 37 strikeouts to seven walks.

First pitch: White Sox at Reds

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM

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