The Kansas City Royals (11-4) and Chicago White Sox (6-8) opened the 2015 season with a three-game set. The division rivals will now head to Chicago for a four-game series beginning on Thursday night at 8:10 p.m. in a battle between the clubs' aces.
Kansas City is now atop the AL Central after the Detroit Tigers fell to the New York Yankees earlier today. The Royals hope to take a full game lead as Yordano Ventura (2-1 with a 4.80 ERA and 1.13 WHIP) heads to the mound to face the White Sox for the second time this year. The 23-year-old defeated Chicago on Opening Day after surrendering just one run on four hits and one walk over six innings.
However, he's coming off a rough outing against the Oakland Athletics where he gave up five earned runs on four hits and two walks before being pulled after just 3 1/3 innings. He also hasn't fared too well against the White Sox throughout his three-year career, going 2-2 with a 4.67 ERA, 1.222 WHIP and 20 strikeouts in five starts (27 innings).
On top of that, the youngster has been a bit mischievous on the mound this season and caused problems with the Los Angeles Angels (when he stared down Mike Trout and induced a verbal altercation) and the Athletics (when he hit Brett Lawrie with a pitch after the A's third baseman committed a hard takeout slide on Ventura's teammate, Alcides Escobar, at second base).
But causing trouble will be the last thing on Ventura's mind when he goes up against Sale (2-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 0.917 WHIP) tonight. The White Sox left-hander missed the first week of the season as he was recovering from a broken foot, but has returned to deliver two wins for Chicago and a much-needed boost after they started the year 1-4.
Sale owns a 7-8 record with a 2.68 ERA, 1.221 WHIP and 92 strikeouts in 24 career games (13 starts) against the Royals. Last year he was 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 20 strikeouts in three starts (20 innings) against Kansas City and absolutely dominated them in 2013 (1.84 ERA and 1.091 WHIP in four starts) despite compiling a record of 1-2.
Despite that success, he'll face a much different Royals club, which ranks fifth in the MLB in runs scored (81), first in average (.303) and second in OPS (.826). On the other hand, the White Sox have struggled driving in runners, scoring just 50 runs (24th in MLB) in 14 games.
White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu hopes to change that with the way he's been hitting over the past five games. He's 9-for-21 with three home runs and 10 RBIs throughout that span and will look to continue that success against Ventura tonight.
Check out the live stream for the White Sox/Royals matchup here as well as the live radio broadcast here (if you're a White Sox fan) or here (if you're a Royals fan).
