The Kansas City Royals will take on the division rival Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field this evening in the rubber match of this three-game set. The Royals will hope for a better performance tonight — they put on a dismal showing in a shutout loss on Monday and needed a late rally to win last night. With the schedule dwindling and the team still three games out of a playoff spot, they cannot afford to drop matchups like this.
The Royals will start Ryan Bergert. Bergert has impressed since
arriving in Kansas City at the trade deadline, working into the sixth inning while allowing exactly two runs in each of his four starts. His four-seamer/sweeper combo have some very unique characteristics that have the potential to make him a special pitcher with more development. Bergert faced the White Sox ten days ago, allowing two runs (one earned) in 5.1 innings.
The Sox will counter with Aaron Civale. Civale has struggled to a 5.02 ERA this season, which includes a 5.05 mark in 12 starts since being acquired from Milwaukee. He’s striking out fewer and walking more batters than ever this season as his chase rate has cratered. He put together three consecutive scoreless starts a few weeks ago but has allowed 16 runs in 14.1 innings across his three most recent outings. Civale started against Kansas City 12 days ago and surrendered three runs in six innings.
Matt Quatraro will run out the same lineup that started Monday’s disaster. Surely this time the results will be different.
First pitch: 6:40 pm CDT
