AL Central foes will continue a three-game series on Tuesday night when the Kansas City Royals visit the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. Kansas City took Monday's series opener with a 2-1 victory to cash in as a +151 underdog. The Royals remain in fourth place at 41-62, while the White Sox fall back to .500 at 51-51, three games out of both the divsion lead and a Wild Card spot.
This has been a competitive season series with the Royals now owning a 5-4 head-to-head advantage.
It has generally been a nightmare for the Royals on the mound this season, so Monday's performance by the pitching staff to beat the White Sox was a welcome development. Salvador Perez homered in the fourth before Whit Merrifield went deep two innings later, as the Royals got the job done with just six hits on the night.
Daniel Lynch threw 5.1 scoreless innings in the win, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out seven. The bullpen was also good, as Scott Barlow locked down his 17th save. Nicky Lopez recorded the only multi-hit game for the Royals.
Kansas City is down a big amount on the money line for the season while going 47-56 on the run line. Overs are an even 51-51-1 for the Royals after Monday's game snapped a run of three straight unders.
This is a bottom five scoring offense at 3.86 runs per game on a .688 team OPS. It's gon e just as poorly for the Royals pitching staff, which is fourth-worst in the Majors with a 4.71 collective ERA including a mark of 4.62 from a horrendous bullpen, second from the bottom in baseball.
Rookie Bobby Witt Jr. is looking like a future star, having put up a .751 OPS with 14 homers, 20 stolen bases and 51 RBI. MJ Melendez is another solid looking young hitter with a .746 OPS, 10 homers and 28 driven in across 71 games.
Brad Keller is set to make his 20th start of the year, having gone 5-11 with a 4.18 ERA opver 107.2 innings. The 26-year-old went six inningd against the Los Angeles Angels last Wednesday, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out five in a loss.
A couple of key young players in shortstop Adalberto Mondesi (torn ACL) and outfielder Edward Olivares (strained quad) are on the IL. Starting pitcher Angel Zerpa is dealing with knee discomfort. Relievers Jake Brentz (UCL r econstruction surgery) and Tyler Zuber (shoulder surgery) are sidelined.