The Kansas City Royals are scuffling at the plate, but their starting pitching continues to keep them competitive on the young season.
Ageless veteran Michael Wacha will look to continue his solid mound start to 2026 when the Royals aim to win back-to-back contests for the first time since the start of the month on Saturday against the visiting Chicago White Sox.
Kansas City snapped a three-game losing streak and evened this four-game set thanks to seven stellar innings and a career-high 11 strikeouts from Kris Bubic in a 2-0 victory over Chicago on Friday. Now, it’s Wacha’s turn to help the Royals build on that triumph and post consecutive victories for the first time since a three-game run March 29-April 1.
Wacha (1-0, 0.69 ERA) had to skip a turn in the rotation because of an illiness. However, the right-hander, who turns 35 in July, returned Monday to allow his only run in 13 innings — a solo homer — and two other hits through seven innings of the Royals’ 4-2 victory at Cleveland.
“It’s Michael Wacha, he’s such a dog,” teammate Jonathan India told the Royals’ official website.
“He comes to the field every day with a good attitude and works his butt off.”
Wacha is 6-2 with a 2.98 ERA in 11 career starts versus the White Sox.
Though the Royals have totaled just five runs, 18 hits and gone 0-for-28 with runners in scoring position over the last four games, their starting pitchers again rank among the major-league best with a 2.84 ERA.
“We know (pitching is) our strength, especially the starting pitching,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.
“We feel really good about them.”
Kansas City pitchers have an exceptional 1.85 ERA while winning 23 of the last 26 home games versus Chicago. Though the teams have split the first two games of this series, the White Sox have managed just seven hits over the past two days, and were held to two Friday.
“It’s a big park, it’s tough to hit here,” White Sox catcher Edgar Quero, batting .176 after going 0-for-3 on Friday, told the White Sox official website.
However, Chicago’s Anthony Kay pitched 5 2/3 innings of the team’s 2-0 win on Thursday, and Davis Martin yielded two runs over seven strong frames on Friday.
Scheduled White Sox starter Erick Fedde (0-2, 4.09 ERA) has been solid while going 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA in three career starts against the Royals.
After allowing four runs (three earned) through five innings of his 2026 debut at Miami, the right-hander rebounded to yield two runs over six innings of a 2-1 loss to Baltimore on Monday. Fedde has received just two runs of support while on the mound in those two outings.
Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr. is 2-for-9 versus Fedde, but he’s batting .462 with 19 RBIs and 13 extra-base hits during a 23-game hitting streak versus the White Sox.
Fedde has never faced the Royals’ Carter Jensen, who clubbed his team-high fourth home run Friday.
Chicago’s Lenyn Sosa has hit safely in four of the last five games. He’s 2-for-9 versus Wacha.
–Field Level Media
