A pair of AL Central rivals meet on the diamond out in the Midwest looking to pick up a victory. The Chicago White Sox are on the road as they play the second game of a doubleheader and the second game of a four-game set with the Kansas City Royals Tuesday night. Chicago won the finale of their four-game road set with Texas, prevailing 8-2 Sunday afternoon to earn a split of the series. Kansas City battered Boston 13-5 at home in the finale of their four-game set Sunday to take three of the four games in the series. This season, the White Sox own a 6-5 advantage in the season series, including taking two of three in the most recent series, which came at home August 1-3.
Chicago managed to split four games with the Rangers as their bats came to life Sunday in the series finale. The White Sox entered Monday third in the AL Central, two games behind the Twins for the division lead. In the AL wild card picture, the team was three games behind the Rays and Mariners for the final two wild card spots. On Sunday, Chicago got three hits each from AJ Pollock (run, RBI), Jose Abreu (run), Andrew Vaughn (run, two RBI) and Leury Garcia (two runs) in the contest. Vaughn hit his 11th homer of the season in the victory for the White Sox. Lucas Giolito (8-6) earned the win as he threw five innings, allowing one run on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts, before departing.
Davis Martin is expected to take the hill for his eighth appearance and fourth start of the season for the White Sox in the nightcap. He comes in 1-3 with a 4.75 ERA, a 1.286 WHIP, nine walks and 23 strikeouts over 30.1 innings of work on the year. Martin didn’t factor in the decision in his last appearance, which came in relief against the A’s at home on July 29. He threw 3.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts in a game the White Sox dropped by a 7-3 score. Martin took the loss in his only career start against the Royals, which came on the road back on May 17 in the second game of a doubleheader. He threw five innings, allowing one run on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in a 2-1 White Sox defeat. That outing took place at Kauffman Stadium, giving Martin experience at the park in his career. In the minors this season, Martin is 5-4 with a 4.20 ERA, a 1.228 WHIP, 18 walks and 84 strikeouts over 64.1 innings in 14 starts split between Double-A Birmingham of the Southern League and Triple-A Charlotte of the International League.