White Sox Hitting .500 and Rolling: They're About to Sweep Kansas City

The Chicago White Sox are sitting pretty at 21-21, and they smell blood in the water. After dropping Kansas City 6-5 the last two nights, they're going for the sweep Thursday with left-hander Anthony Kay taking the ball again. Kay has been the ace of this four-game winning streak, and he's got one job: keep feeding the hottest bats in baseball to the wolves.

This White Sox lineup is stacked with power and it's showing

Miguel Vargas went deep twice in Saturday's 6-1 win over the Mariners. Colson Montgomery also homered in that game. Add in first baseman Munetaka Murakami, who leads the club with 15 home runs, and you've got three guys who can take any pitcher deep on any given night. Montgomery has 11 dingers on the season. Vargas has nine.

Kay, who's 2-1 with a 4.89 ERA, is the one who has to live with these guys in the lineup. On Saturday, he threw five innings of one-run ball. Back on April 9 in Kansas City, he was even sharper: 5 2/3 scoreless innings with three hits scattered, two walks and two strikeouts. The guy knows how to pitch around a loaded gun.

"They've all been great," Kay said about his lineup. "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."

The Royals are desperate, but Bobby Witt Jr. is swinging hot

Kansas City has dropped five of their last seven and lost the first two games of this series, both by that 6-5 margin. But they're not laying down. Bobby Witt Jr. launched a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth Wednesday to keep it close. He's on a tear: batting .478 over his last six games with four homers and six RBIs.

Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro emphasized the fight: "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."

Kris Bubic takes the mound for Kansas City on Thursday. The left-hander is 3-1 with a 3.50 ERA. He dominated the White Sox on April 10, allowing two hits in seven shutout innings with one walk and a career-high 11 strikeouts. In May, he's 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA across two starts. Against Chicago historically, Bubic is 2-4 with a 2.04 ERA in 12 appearances with 56 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings.

The White Sox have won 10 of their past 14 games and are .500 for the first time since 2022. Sweep the Royals tonight and they're above it. This is the kind of series that defines a season's momentum.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.