Game Thread: White Sox (33-29) at Phillies (33-29)

Anthony Kay looks to stay hot in the City of Brotherly Love. | (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Unfortunately for the Chicago White Sox, the month of June did not start off as well as May ended. Now is where the real dog days of the MLB season may or may not catch up with the South Sid

What is the story about?

Unfortunately for the Chicago White Sox, the month of June did not start off as well as May ended. Now is where the real dog days of the MLB season may or may not catch up with the South Siders. The next 12 games for the White Sox come against four clubs with a combined record of 152-98. And Chicago starts the stretch tonight, with a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Not only do the White Sox and Phillies come into this series with the same record, they also

come into the series on similar trajectories. Both teams stumbled out of the gates before getting hot over the last 30 games. Only the Milwaukee Brewers have a better record over that stretch than the Phillies.

To start off the crucial series, the White Sox are sending out Anthony Kay to start on Friday night. Kay sports a 5-1 record with an ERA less than four. Like the rest of his team, Kay found his groove in the month of May, going 4-0 with a 1.95 ERA across six starts. He will look to continue his streak of six straight starts of allowing two earned runs or less to give Chicago their best shot at coming out on top in the series opener.

The Phillies are throwing Jesus Luzardo, who also had a good month of May. Across six starts, he posted a 2-1 record with an 3.03 ERA. Outside of a poor start against the Colorado Rockies early in May, he allowed just six earned runs in just shy of 30 innings of work.

This game should be a good matchup of two solid southpaws and could easily turn into one of the better pitching duels we’ve seen early on in this season. With the Phillies looking to keep pace with a red-hot Atlanta Braves and the White Sox looking to keep their grasp on a Wild Card spot, neither team will want to give an inch in this matchup.

Here is the lineup for the Sox: