Left-hander Anthony Kay pitched the Chicago White Sox to victory to start the team’s current four-game winning streak.
On Thursday night, he’ll take the ball again as the White Sox aim to sweep a three-game series against the visiting Kansas City Royals, hoping the Chicago attack duplicates its effort from five days ago.
Or just about any day since.
Miguel Vargas homered twice and Colson Montgomery also connected to key Kay’s 6-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday. Along with first baseman Munetaka Murakami and his club-leading 15 home runs, Montgomery (11) and Vargas (nine) have provided plenty of power for surging Chicago.
“They’ve all been great,” Kay said. “It’s just going to lead to all of them having success. You’ve got to pitch to at least one of them. It’s going to be fun to watch.”
Kay (2-1, 4.89 ERA) delivered five innings of one-run ball on Saturday. He was even more sharp during a 2-0 victory at Kansas City on April 9, scattering three hits, two walks and two strikeouts over 5 2/3 scoreless innings.
After falling 6-5 to the White Sox in each of the first two games of the current series, the Royals have lost five of their past seven games.
Bobby Witt Jr. delivered a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth to draw the Royals within the final margin Wednesday.
“It gets us back in the game. I mean, we’re one swing away from tying it up,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “That’s why you can never count us out, never pack it in. You’ve got to keep fighting every at-bat, because you don’t know which one is going to be the difference maker.
“For Bobby, he’s been swinging the bat well, obviously, and that was big for us.”
Witt Jr. has homered in consecutive games and is batting .478 (11-for-23) with four homers and six RBIs in his past six contests.
The Royals were limited to five hits, but reserve catcher Carter Jensen contributed two after entering the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning.
“Sometimes, if you’re not starting the game, you get frustrated. Everybody wants to play all the time,” Quatraro said. “But he kept himself ready and went up there and put up two good at-bats.”
Montgomery had three hits, including a solo homer in the seventh, to help Chicago hold on. The White Sox improved to 21-21 and are .500 this late in a season for the first time since 2022, when they finished 81-81.
They have won 10 of their past 14 games.
Left-hander Kris Bubic (3-1, 3.50 ERA) is set to start for the Royals on Thursday. Bubic was dominant in a 2-0 April 10 home win against the White Sox, allowing two hits in seven shutout innings with one walk and a career-best 11 strikeouts.
Bubic is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in two May starts. He fell one out short of a quality start in his team’s 4-3 win against the Detroit Tigers on Friday, yielding three runs in 5 2/3 innings and matching a season high with four walks. He did not figure into the decision.
Bubic is 2-4 with a 2.04 ERA in 12 appearances (nine starts) against Chicago, with 56 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings.
Kay is 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA in two career starts vs. the Royals.
–Field Level Media
