Considering how well Noah Cameron has pitched at Kauffman Stadium of late, the Kansas City Royals appear in good shape to continue their home dominance over the Chicago White Sox.
The rookie left-hander looks to extend his 16-inning scoreless streak at home, where the Royals will try to increase their winning streak over the White Sox to 12 games on Friday night.
Cameron (6-5, 2.52 ERA) has certainly lived up to the hype since making his major league debut April 30. On Saturday, he allowed six hits and two walks, but no runs over 5 2/3 innings of Kansas City’s 2-0 victory at Minnesota.
“He knows how to navigate his way around,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Cameron, who has yielded two or fewer earned runs in all but four of his 16 career starts.
Cameron, who hails from nearby St. Joseph, Mo., has also been simply stellar at home of late, where he has not allowed a run over 11 2/3 innings of his last two starts, and since the third inning of a 9-3 victory over Pittsburgh on July 7.
“He just attacks hitters and mixes it everywhere in the zone,” teammate Kyle Isbel told FanDuel Sports Network. “It’s fun to watch.”
Desperately trying to find a way into wild-card position in the AL, the Royals have won three consecutive series at home. However, their modest two-game winning streak was snapped with Wednesday’s 8-7 loss to Washington.
Cameron gets his first look at the White Sox, who are 33 games under .500 and been outscored 46-12 while 0-11 at Kansas City since a 6-4 win there on Sept. 6, 2023. Chicago is just 2-19 at Kansas City since Aug. 10, 2022.
Though the White Sox are more competitive this season than their 41-121 debacle from 2024, they’ve lost three straight series and managed just two hits off four Detroit pitchers in Wednesday’s 1-0 loss.
Scheduled White Sox starter Aaron Civale (3-7, 4.91 ERA) didn’t allow an earned run over 17 1/3 innings spanning three straight starts entering last Friday’s visit from Cleveland. The Guardians, however, one of the right-hander’s former teams, roughed him up for a career-high nine runs and eight hits over 3 1/3 innings of Chicago’s 9-5 loss.
“I think we’ll just try and figure out if there is anything to pick up from (the last start),” Civale said. “If not, just flush it and roll forward.”
Civale has been relatively solid against the Royals, going 4-1 with a 3.19 ERA in 10 career starts.
Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino has two hits, including a homer, in nine at-bats versus Civale. Pasquantino went 4-for-8 with two homers and nine RBIs in the team’s last two contests this week. He is a career .320 hitter with eight home runs and 17 RBIs in 33 games against the White Sox.
Teammate Bobby Witt Jr. is batting a robust .533 (32-for-60) with four homers and 16 RBIs during a 15-game hitting streak versus Chicago.
The Royals will get their first look at budding Chicago star shortstop Colson Montgomery, who has 10 home runs and 28 RBIs in 34 games since making his big-league debut on July 4.
–Field Level Media
