Cactus League, Game 6 - Luke Weaver takes aim at the White Sox

A good bit has happened since Luke Weaver fired a perfect inning against the San Francisco Giants just six days ago. Connor Overton, one of the arms vying for a spot in the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day rotation alongside Weaver, was slugged for 6 ER in a lone inning of work in his first outing since being shut down with a fracture in his back last season. Justin Dunn, meanwhile, was shut down and sent to a specialist to figure out why his long-ailing right shoulder was ailing once again.

A continued steady spring for Weaver now looks like it will cement a spot in the team’s Opening Day rotation. Hell, at this juncture even a rocky yet healthy spring will likely get the job done. That process takes its next step today, as the Reds will take on the Chicago White Sox in Glendale at Camelback Ranch this afternoon with Weaver on the bump for the start.

We’re expecting him to fire at least a pair of IP, with work into the 3rd a possibility if he’s been efficient. We’ve officially reached ‘second appearance of spring’ time, folks!

The White Sox will merely be countering with righty Dylan Cease, who’s only coming off a 6.4 bWAR season that saw him finish a close second to Justin Verlander in the American League Cy Young race. It’s his first appearance of spring, though, so maybe he’ll have some rust on his arm.

First pitch is set for 3:05 PM ET, and while both the Reds and White Sox will have radio coverage, there appears to be no televised feed (unless we can convince someone reading this to Facetime with us for a couple of glorious hours).