The Chicago White Sox’ 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night was only their second road win of the season. In what felt like a breath of fresh air, it was their pitching that allowed them to walk back into the clubhouse victorious. The win also evened them up with their division foe at 5-8 on the season.
Can you believe it? There are now at least four teams in baseball worse than the Sox! It’s an [insert whatever random holiday Google says it is] miracle!
Anthony Kay Impresses
The Chicago White Sox can at least feel confident about one rotation member. Anthony Kay has looked the part since spring training, showing good versatility and increased velocity. While he may have allowed homers in each of his first two outings, he limited the damage to a pair of runs in each and went at least 4.0 innings deep.
Those decent performance led to his best one yet on Thursday. The Royals have sat Top 13 in hits and Top 10 in walks so far this season, yet Kay kept them in check. He only allowed three hits and struck out six in 5.2 innings of work. To be fair, the lefty did have a little trouble with his command at times, hitting two batters and leaving the game with 100 pitches thrown. But it was still his first White Sox game without allowing a run and one of the most complete performance from any Sox starter this season.
Grant Taylor Comes Through Huge … Twice!
With Anthony Kay being able to go into the bottom of the sixth, manager Will Venable was able to go to his best bullpen arm. Kay had finally started to unravel after allowing a single to Lane Thomas and hitting Jac Caglianone to advance the tying run into scoring position. The Sox proceeded to go with Grant Taylor, who came in and threw a four-pitch sequence to get out Jonathan India: 98.3 mph strike, 98.2 mph strike, a slide low and outside for a ball, and a 98.7 mph fastball that flew out to Dustin Harris.
Chicago was able to then take advantage of back-to-back walks by the Royals in the seventh to add another run. Taylor would come back out to send things to the eighth for his first multi-inning game of the season. He got two quick outs before he allowed two straight singles. Only up 2-0, the Sox now felt on the verge of blowing another game late. To Taylor’s credit, though, he was able to get out of the inning with some help from Chase Meidroth.
Vinnie Pasquantino sent a rocket toward second base that bounced off Meidroth’s diving glove. He was able to corral, though, and send it to Munetaka Murakami for the third out. Taylor’s ERA now sits at 1.42 on the season in his six appearances. Again, the volume in each game has been rather low, but there is no question that he is becoming a pivotal Swiss Army Knife for this group. Whether it be in the starting role or out of the bullpen, Taylor is the guy you want on the mound in high-stakes situations right now.
Crazy Losing Streak Snapped
Seranthony Dominguez stepped in during the bottom of the ninth and recorded three straight outs after walking his initial batter. The final two came on strikeouts, which included getting Bobby Witt Jr. on a sweeper. Not only did this mark his second save in a White Sox uniform, but it also snapped a ridiculous streak for his new team.
Believe it or not, the Sox came in with a 14-game losing streak at the Royals’ Kauffman Stadium. According to Scott Merkin, this was the longest road losing streak against any opponent in franchise history. The last time they had pulled off a W in Kansas City was in April of 2024.
The question now is, can they keep it going in their first four-game set of the year? The Sox have certainly shown signs of life
in recent weeks, but they have not been able to get their two sides of the ball to click. Even today proved to be another relatively quiet day for the offense. The good news is they only managed to strike out five times, but they also grounded into three double plays and only finished with five hits.
