The Chicago White Sox welcome Kansas City for a three-game series starting Monday, hoping to keep some positive momentum going after taking two of three from Minnesota over the weekend. Sure, the Royals have had our number this year (they lead the season series 8-2), but the young guys have been playing with energy lately.
Game Info
- Pitchers: Noah Cameron (7-5, 2.53 ERA) vs Shane Smith (3-7, 4.12 ERA)
- Season Series: Royals lead 8-2 (ouch)
- Recent Form: KC is 7-3 in last 10, White Sox 3-7
Finally, Some Home Cooking
The Sox just had their first home series win since late July, which honestly feels like a small miracle given how this season’s gone. Colson Montgomery was the star of the weekend, going deep in all three games against the Twins and crushing his first career grand slam.
Manager Will Venable has been getting solid production from the young core – Montgomery, Edgar Quero, and Kyle Teel have been driving in runs consistently. It’s been fun watching these kids develop, and Venable’s been creative with the lineup, often using one catcher behind the plate and the other at DH.
The Royals Challenge
Kansas City comes in hot, sitting just three games back of a wild card spot after beating Detroit 10-8 on Sunday. Vinnie Pasquantino has been killing it with extra-base hits in seven straight games, and their offense has been clicking.
The Royals are playing meaningful baseball right now while the Sox are… well, we’re playing for pride and development. But that doesn’t mean we can’t spoil their party a little.
Pitching Matchup
Noah Cameron goes for KC – the rookie lefty is 7-5 with a 2.53 ERA and already beat us once this month, allowing just one run over 5 1/3 innings on August 15th. He’s been really good.
Shane Smith takes the ball for the good guys. He’s 3-7 with a 4.12 ERA and hasn’t won since June 10th, which tells you everything about our season. He’s been better lately though – 3.54 ERA in August despite getting no-decisions in his last four starts. Sometimes that’s just how it goes.
The Reality Check
Look, the Royals are the better team right now and they’re playing for something. But baseball’s funny sometimes, and our young guys have been scrappy lately. Maybe we can’t win the series, but making Kansas City work for it would feel pretty good.
At this point in the season, we’ll take any signs of life we can get.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source urbanmatter.com ’
