Gamethread: Royals at White Sox

Happy Sunday! Today, the Chicago White Sox will face off against the Kansas City Royals for the finale of this four-game set at Guaranteed Rate Field.

This series hasn’t gone exactly how we may have wanted it to, with the Royals breaking their 11-game losing streak against the White Sox in the first game of the doubleheader on Friday, and stealing a win from our ace Carlos Rodón yesterday.

The offense has been relatively quiet this series, scoring only a total of six runs combined in the last three games, so hopefully today we can see them break out and get the win.

For a standings update, the White Sox still sit in first place in the American League Central at 23-15, with the Cleveland Baseball team 1 ¹⁄₂ games behind them. The Royals are in third place, with the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins tied for ... last? Yeah, it’s been a crazy month, but all that matters is that we have sole possession of first place, and look to extend that lead today.

Dylan Cease will be starting for the team, or you could call him Dylan the Hitter, with his 0.2 offensive WAR and 1.000 batting average this season. We have been low on runs this series, so maybe his bat could help? This year has been very solid for Cease, as he sits at a 2.80 ERA with a 1.25 WHIP. His current record is 2-0 in seven games this season. With Cease, it is always important to make sure that he has his control, and the rest will fall into place. He does have 17 walks so far, but also 47 strikeouts. His slider has been top-notch, and he throws it 27.8% of the time. His last start was at home against the Twins, and he pitched five innings while allowing five hits and three runs. After those three runs, he started to calm down, and finished to have seven strikeouts total.

Brady Singer will be on the mound for the Royals, a pitcher who we have yet to face this year. The righty has a 1-3 record in seven games played, with a 4.18 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. In his last outing against Detroit, he didn’t have his best stuff, going 3 ¹⁄₃ innings with seven hits and four runs. Singer isn’t like your average pitcher — in fact, he has only thrown two fastballs this year. He relies heavily on his sinker, which he throws 64.3% of the time, as his main pitch. His slider also makes an appearance often, throwing it 30.8% of the time.

Here are the lineups for today:

Tim Anderson will lead it off again, followed by Adam Eaton back in the 2-spot. José Abreu seems to be better than ever after his injury, with a home run yesterday, while Yermín Mercedes looks to get a hit today after a rare 0-for-4 yesterday. Yasmani Grandal is back in the lineup after two games off, and looks to get hot with the bat. Andrew Vaughn, Leury García, and Nick Madrigal will take the last three spots in the order.

Game time is 1:10 p.m. CT on NBCSCHI, and you can listen in at ESPN 1000. Ashley Sanders Superstar serves you up your postgame Six Pack of Stats postgame.

Let’s see what we can do to close out this series with a win today!