Dominance on the mound continues to fuel the Kansas City Royals in their extended home success against the Chicago White Sox.
Following consecutive shutout victories, the Royals will aim for an eighth straight winning home series over the White Sox on Sunday afternoon.
After its 14-game home winning streak over Chicago ended with a 2-0 loss in Thursday’s series opener, Kansas City has back-to-back 2-0 wins. Royals starters Seth Lugo, Kris Bubic and Michael Wacha have combined to allow two runs, 10 hits and strike out 22 batters over 21 1/3 innings in the first three games of the four-game set.
That’s helped compensate for an offense that’s totaled seven runs and gone 0-for-30 with runners in scoring position over the last five contests.
“It’s a full team game,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We’ve played well enough to win as a team two days in a row. … (But), we know we are not going to sustain long winning streaks scoring two runs (each game).”
Sunday’s scheduled Kansas City starter, Noah Cameron (1-1, 1.69 ERA), who finished fourth in the 2025 AL Rookie of the Year voting, essentially has picked up where he left off. The left-hander and St. Joseph, Mo., native has allowed one run and one walk with five strikeouts in each of his first two 2026 starts, which have spanned 10 2/3 innings.
However, his Royals teammates will look to provide more run support after they managed little offense during Tuesday’s 2-1 loss at Cleveland.
Cameron faced the White Sox twice in 2025, allowing one run over 5 1/3 innings during a 3-1 home win in August. But 10 days later, at Chicago, he was tagged for six runs over five innings of a 7-0 loss.
Losers in 10 of their first 15 games, the White Sox have gone 20 straight innings without scoring a run. They have just six hits while striking out 19 times in the last two contests.
“(The Royals) have pitched really, really well the last two games,” Chicago manager Will Venable said. “Offensively, we’ve got to find a way to make an adjustment going forward.”
Looking at the bigger picture, the White Sox have batted .198 and scored just 13 runs against Royals starting pitching during their current 1-16 rut at Kansas City.
Ex-Royal Andrew Benintendi and Lenyn Sosa each had a double Saturday, but the White Sox failed to put a runner past second base. Despite Chicago’s offensive struggles, Sosa has hit safely in five of his last six games and is 2-for-5 with a double and home run vs. Cameron.
With struggling Chicago Opening Day starter Shane Smith demoted to the minors after two rough starts and one decent but short outing, Venable said Grant Taylor (0-0, 1.42 ERA) will serve as an opener for the fourth time this season Sunday. The right-hander has allowed one hit over three scoreless innings in that role this month.
Taylor is 0-2 with an 18.00 ERA in three career appearances — all in relief — vs. the Royals.
Venable also noted that right-hander Jonathan Cannon, who is 9-20 over the last two seasons for Chicago, will be recalled from Triple-A Charlotte and could see bulk work Sunday.
With a leadoff homer and a late double Saturday, Kansas City All-Star Maikel Garcia is batting .328 for the young season. He’s batted .375 during an eight-game home hitting against the White Sox.
–Field Level Media
