Aaron Civale lit up by White Sox as bulk reliever

Lopez was excellent against the Astros on Saturday, holding them scoreless through three innings before giving up a run on a walk and a double in the fourth. He’d give the A’s two more scoreless frames, collecting an impressive nine strikeouts through six innings while scattering just three hits and one walk. The 28-year-old left-hander will take a 4.98 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, and a 90/47 K/BB ratio across 94 innings into a start against the Orioles in Sacramento on Friday.

Lopez gave up five hits, walked one and struck out five. He turned the game over to the bullpen in the eighth inning with a 6-2 lead. The Athletics’ bullpen proceeded to allow eight runs to Rays in the eighth inning, costing Lopez the win. That’s a tough break for Lopez as well as fantasy managers. Lopez is lined up to face the Rangers at home on Sunday.

Lopez gave up four hits, walked one and struck out nine. He now has a 2.13 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings over his last five starts. Lopez has a 5.43 xFIP this year, making him a risky streamer against the Rays at home next week. With 17 strikeouts in his last two starts and two starts on tap next week, Lopez will be worth the risk for strikeout-needy fantasy managers.

The 31-year-old hurler was brought on with a man on second base and one out in the 10th inning with the Cubs clinging to a two-run advantage. Civale made it look easy in this one, getting Jimmy Crooks on a fly ball to center field and Lars Nootbaar on strikes to end it. Don’t expect him to put himself into the mix for saves in the Cubs’ bullpen anytime soon.

The unearned run was kind of sneaky. Third baseman Tommy White dropped an easy foul popup from Romy Gonzalez with none out and one on. Gonzalez went on to fly out to right, seemingly erasing the error from the scoring, but Caleb Durbin tagged up from first on the play and made it to second, which is something that obviously wouldn’t have happened if the foul pop had been caught. Durbin later scored from second on a Nick Sogard single, so the run was unearned. Lopez’s eight strikeouts were a new season high. He did that eight times in 21 outings last year, but he’d topped out at six in 13 starts and three relief appearances this season. His ERA still stands at 5.79, but this makes three decent showings in a row. He’ll face the Reds next.

Lopez had a bit of a funny game here. The Twins sent up a lineup of nine right-handed hitters to face-off with the lefty, which is never an easy task. His five scoreless innings were great as were his 14 swings-and-misses, just one off his season-high that he set last time out. On the flip side, he barely threw one-third of his pitches in the strike zone and relied on some poor swing decisions to get in and out of at-bats. Otherwise, he walked four and hit another batter in what could politely be described as an erratic night for his slider. Still, it’s easy to see the flashes that have made him effective in the past and it’s not hard to see him putting together a solid stretch run this season. He’s scheduled to face the Red Sox at home next time out.

Civale, who was acquired from the A’s on Saturday, could have gotten a three-inning save tonight, but David Peterson was allowed to pitch into the seventh in a 9-0 game. It was Civale’s seventh career relief appearance. Five of the other six, along with his only save, came in his late-season stint with the Cubs last year. It’s likely that Civale will get some starts going forward, but with Jameson Taillon back, he’ll likely remain in the pen for now.

Lopez wasn’t terrible, but not good enough to qualify for a win. The left-hander gave up runs on a fielder’s choice in the third and a double from Harry Ford in the fourth. He was able to strike out six against two walks in what was one of his better starts of the year, which is more insult than compliment. Lopez still has a 6.64 ERA on the season and will try and build on effort over the weekend against the Twins.

Civale leaves the A’s after forging a 5.47 ERA and 58/23 K/BB over 74 2/3 innings over his 16 appearances — 15 of those starts — in his lone season in Sacramento. The right-hander will get a chance to start for Chicago, but fantasy managers would be wise to take a wait-and-see approach before investing in him as anything more than a streamer against the worst lineups.

Rogers reports that the Cubs will trade right-hander Aiden Moffitt in return. The Athletics designated Civale for assignment Wednesday, and it’s not surprising that they found a trade partner, and specifically a trade partner that needs rotation help like the Cubs. The right-hander has been awful after a terrific first nine starts for the A’s, but he’ll get a chance to rebound while playing behind a better club in Chicago. It’s also worth noting that Civale had some brief success with the Cubs last year with a 2.08 ERA in five appearances over 13 innings.