Series Preview: White Sox have struggled vs. Royals all season
Sep 13, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox left fielder
Jordan Danks(left) avoids the tag of Minnesota Twins catcher
Kurt Suzuki(8) to score a run during the seventh inning in game one of a doubleheader at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Sure, the Chicago White Sox have struggled against a lot of teams this season, that is no secret, but this season they’ve really struggled against the Kansas City Royals.
Starting a three-game series in Kansas City Monday night, the White Sox are 4-8 against their AL Central counterpart in ’14, scoring just 39 runs against the Royals, who are second place (1.5 games back of the Detroit Tigers) in the Central.
Sep 14, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman
Jose Abreu(79) hits an RBI single against the Minnesota Twins at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago has allowed 59 runs to the Royals in ’14.
Even after this three-game set, the White Sox still will play their final four games of the season against the Royals at US Cellular Field.
The last time these two teams have faced each other was on July 21-23 in Chicago, where the Royals won two of three games by scores of 7-1 and 2-1. The White Sox won the July 21 meeting, 3-1.
So far in September the White Sox are 6-6, though they’ve been out-scored 50-38 in the 12 games.
As for the pitching matchups against the Royals, here is what we are looking at for the next three games (White Sox listed first):
• John Danks (9-11, 5.05 ERA) vs. James Shields (14-7, 3.13 ERA)
• Chris Bassitt (0-1, 4.73 ERA) vs. TBA
• Chris Sale (12-3, 1.99 ERA) vs. Yordano Ventura (12-10, 3.27 ERA)
One player to watch in this series is Jose Abreu. He’s hit home runs in consecutive days for the White Sox, giving him 35 home runs on the year, along with 102 RBIs. He also has 35 doubles, making him the first player to have 35 home runs, 35 doubles and 100-plus RBIs as a rookie since Albert Pujols.
In his past 10 games, Abreu has hit safely in eight of them, with four being multi-hit games. Abreu has collected two hits in each of the past three games, and three RBIs total in the past two games.
As for the Royals they’ve lose three of their past four games against the Boston Red Sox, with their bullpen giving up what became the game deciding runs Sunday.
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For the White Sox they need to be careful with Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer if they want a chance to win this series. Hosmer is batting .266 and Gordon .271, with Gordon having four hits combined in his past two games.
Hosmer is due to start hitting the ball again, with just two hits in his past four games. Let’s just hope the White Sox pitching can keep him at bay for the next three games.
I’m looking forward to this series just for the fact the White Sox can really mess with how the AL Central can turn out. That makes it enough to tune into the games for the next three days, no matter if what the White Sox record is.