The excitement of the Chicago White Sox (10-25) reaching their 10th win of the season quickly diminished Monday after dropping the series opener to the Kansas City Royals (20-16). The South Siders look to redeem themselves Tuesday night, with Sean Burke (2-4) making his seventh start of the season.
Burke was excellent in his Opening Day start, but has since struggled to keep runs from scoring. He has walked two or more batters in his last four outings and has posted a 7.71 ERA in his five April starts, bringing him to an overall 4.91 ERA and 1.364 WHIP across 33 innings.
The lineup doesn’t look too shabby tonight … well, as good as it can be without Luis Robert Jr. in it (still not good). Chase Meidroth is holding down the leadoff spot, followed by Miguel Vargas in place of Robert. Matt Thaiss will take the number three spot as a DH tonight, and finally, we don’t have to see Andrew Vaughn in the cleanup spot — thank you, Edgar Quero. Vargas has been hot for the last two weeks, posting a 1.017 OPS and walking seven times compared to six strikeouts. Quero has also been an on-base machine during this time period, posting a .455 OBP and an .816 OPS.
Seth Lugo will make his eighth start of the year for the Royals and has been solid so far over 44 frames. He’s posted a 3.07 ERA and has been efficient with not walking a lot of batters, at a 7% walk rate and a 1.045 WHIP. Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. have been the hot hitters for Kansas City the last two weeks, and both have slugged two homers and five doubles, with Garcia posting a 1.056 OPS.
Get ready for first pitch at 6:40 p.m. CT! You can watch the game on CHSN or tune in to the radio broadcast on ESPN Chicago 1000.