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Jeff Samardzija needs to bring a ‘Shark’ attack Tuesday

By Stephen Forsha |

June has finally arrived. With the first two months of the MLB season mostly completed, summertime is arriving, and for the Chicago White Sox, they are hoping to have a “Shark Attack” on Tuesday when they face the Texas Rangers.

For that “Shark Attack,” the player who can deliver that is starting right-hander Jeff Samardzija, who will enter the game against the Rangers with a season record of 4-2 in 10 starts, and with that an ERA of 3.84.

Speaking of the season stats of Samardzija, in 68 innings pitched, he’s collected 54 strikeouts, while compiling a WHIP of 1.25.

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What does that mean for “Shark?”

It means he’s starting to get back to his groove, and he’s pitching to his career ERA, which entering Tuesday’s game is 3.85 (232 games). He’s built a career record of 40-50 overall, including 792 strikeouts.

In his past three games, Samardzija is 2-0 (three starts) in 23 innings. In those innings, the right-handed pitcher has allowed just three earned runs but has also allowed 19 hits in that same span, including two games of eight hits each. On the other hand, in that same span he’s struck out 19 batters, including two games of five strikeouts and one game of nine strikeouts, that game coming on May 22 against the Minnesota Twins in eight strong innings.

The month of May saw Samardzija have a 3.00 ERA in five starts, where in 36 total innings he allowed 12 earned runs on 34 hits and seven walks.

Even with what feels like a high number of hits allowed, Samardzija built a pretty solid month of May, and with a new month arriving, it is fair to expect the continued progress of Samardzija which he showed from April to May.

June is a huge month for the White Sox as a team, they are currently last in the AL Central, with a 23-26 record, seven games out of first place in the division.

For the White Sox to have any chance to cut into the lead of the division-leading Minnesota Twins (yes, that isn’t a typo), Samardzija will have to have an even better month of pitching to help the White Sox dig out of the cellar of the division.

Next: MLB Power Rankings and the White Sox

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