It’s been nearly four years since the Chicago White Sox won back-to-back games in Kansas City.
After ending their lengthy road skid to the Royals on Thursday, the White Sox will get the chance to accomplish that feat again on Friday night.
Chicago entered Thursday’s opener of a four-game set with the Royals as a loser of 22 of the previous 24 games at Kansas City, where the White Sox were mired in a 14-game losing streak that dated to a victory there on Sept. 6, 2023.
However, Anthony Kay threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and Colson Montgomery delivered an RBI double during a 2-0 White Sox victory Thursday.
The last time Chicago won consecutive games at Kansas City was May 16-17, 2022. And White Sox players appear to have heard it from Kansas City’s lineup in the opener.
“(The Royals) like to chirp a little bit, it seems like. I don’t think we’re going to take that anymore,” Kay told the White Sox’s official website. “We are going to go right at them.”
Montgomery is just 9-for-45 on the young season but is tied for the team lead with seven RBIs.
Friday’s scheduled Chicago starter, Davis Martin (2-0, 2.45 ERA), has a 2.67 ERA while going 1-2 in five career starts against the Royals. In his most recent start at Kauffman Stadium on Aug. 17 of last season, the right-hander allowed one hit and three walks over six scoreless innings, but the White Sox bullpen couldn’t hold a 2-0 lead in a 6-2 defeat.
Martin yielded four hits and two walks Sunday against Toronto over six solid innings of Chicago’s 3-0 victory.
“Just relaxing,” Martin said. “Just always me to go out there and compete to the best of my ability.”
Martin will face a Kansas City club that’s totaled only three runs and gone 0-for-21 with runners in scoring position during a three-game losing streak. The Royals managed just five hits and stranded 11 runners on Thursday.
Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr. had two hits Thursday and is batting .472 during a 22-game hitting streak against the White Sox. However, he struck out with a man on base for the final out of the game in the series opener.
Fellow All-Star Maikel Garcia also had two hits Thursday and is batting .320 for the Royals, but he, too, struck in the ninth against closer Seranthony Dominguez.
Scheduled Kansas City starter Kris Bubic (1-1, 4.09 ERA) is 1-4 with a 2.30 ERA in 11 career games (eight starts) vs. the White Sox. During Kansas City’s 10-0 victory over them on May 8 last season, the left-hander yielded six hits and a walk while striking out seven over seven innings.
Bubic opened this season by yielding a solo homer and one other hit over six innings in a 3-1 win over Minnesota on March 30. However, he was charged with four runs while walking three in his five innings of an 8-5 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday.
“It wasn’t necessarily a loss of focus, it was just a lack of execution getting ahead in the count, because the stuff felt normal (against the Brewers),” he said.
–Field Level Media
