Game Thread: Royals at White Sox

Can the South Siders strike for a Sunday sweep?

Happy Sunday, Sox fans! And this Sunday, I mean it. It feels good to finally be excited to watch this team, as they play the Kansas City Royals today and shoot for the sweep. After an exciting two games, they look to finish it off strong today with a bullpen game against Michael Lorenzen. Plus, it’s the best mascot in the game’s birthday today, so we HAVE to win for Southpaw.

Lorenzen will be on the mound for the Royals, bringing a 3-6 record with a 5.12 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. After having a great second half of last season with the Royals, he has been struggling, as has the rest of the team. Lorenzen’s last outing against the St. Louis Cardinals was brutal, as he went just 2 2⁄3 innings with seven hits, seven earned runs, one walk, and two strikeouts.

Mike Vasil will start on the mound for the South Siders in this bullpen game, which is probably the best option. The Rule 5 pick has been tremendous this year for the team, and is 3-2 with a whopping 1.89 ERA in 18 games. In his last three bullpen relief outings, he has not allowed a single run. Each of those three outings have also been at least three innings, so let’s hope that is the minimum for him today and he can get some solid innings to start and let the offense do its thing. A bit of intrigue exists, as Vasil came into the season as a starter, and a solid outing today of even just three innings could be lining him up to take the wild-card spot in the White Sox rotation that has persisted since Martín Pérez’s season-ending injury in April.

Mike Tauchman sticks in the leadoff spot, as Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi follow. Miguel Vargas is back at third, Joshua Palacios in left, and Kyle Teel back behind the plate again. Luis Robert Jr. takes center, and Josh Rojas and Tim Elko round it out.

Game time is at 1:10 p.m. CT. Watch on CHSN and listen in at ESPN 1000.