Chicago @ Kansas City preview
Kauffman Stadium
Last Meeting ( May 7, 2025 ) Chi. White Sox 1, Kansas City 2
Starting pitching has helped continue the Kansas City Royals' recent dominance over the Chicago White Sox.
With Kris Bubic looking to continue his strong start to 2025, the Royals can complete a four-game series sweep with their 11th consecutive home win over the White Sox on Thursday.
Winners of five straight and 14 of 16, Kansas City has scored just nine runs in winning the first three games of this set, including the last two by one run apiece. However, the Royals allowed just four runs in the series to extend their home winning streak over Chicago to 10 games.
"Every day we go to the field, we're planning on winning," said Royals star Bobby Witt Jr., who clubbed a two-run homer in Wednesday's 2-1 victory over the White Sox.
"That's our mentality. That's our mindset."
Kansas City starters Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha combined to allow one earned run over 18 2/3 innings during the last three games. Chicago hitters struck out 29 times against Royals starters in the series, yet have been more than competitive throughout the set.
"We've just got to find a way to score early," said White Sox manager Will Venable, whose team is 2-10 in one-run games this season.
"We're right there. We've just got to keep continuing to fight. ... Proud of our effort, but we've got to find a way of winning these games."
The challenge for Chicago, which has lost 10 straight and 16 of 17 overall against Kansas City, likely won't be any easier versus Bubic (3-2, 1.98 ERA).
Though the left-hander has failed to complete six innings in three of his last four starts, he didn't yield a run in two of the three most recent -- and remains among the major league leaders in ERA. On Saturday, Bubic allowed four hits with a walk over five innings of the Royals' 4-0 victory at Baltimore.
Despite going 0-4 in 10 appearances, seven career starts, against the White Sox, Bubic has a 2.64 ERA in those outings. The most recent start came in August 2022.
He's never faced Chicago's Miguel Vargas, who doubled twice Wednesday, and is batting .360 in the last 14 games. However, teammate Andrew Vaughn is 4-for-10 with a homer against Bubic.
The White Sox are 1-6 when scheduled starter Davis Martin (1-3, 3.52) takes the ball this season. However, the right-hander allowed just three earned runs over 16 innings of his last three starts. Those runs came through five innings of Saturday's 8-3 loss to Houston.
Martin has a 1.69 ERA while splitting both previous career starts versus Kansas City -- which came in 2022. Kansas City's Vinnie Pasquantino, 7-for-16 (.438) in the last four games, had one homer against Martin during those meetings with the White Sox.
Witt, meanwhile, is 0-for-5 with three strikeouts against Martin, but he's 23-of-42 (.548) with three home runs and 12 RBIs in his last 11 games versus Chicago.
Kansas City's Maikel Garcia, who had two hits Wednesday, is batting .397 in the last 16 games.
--Field Level Media