Royals at White Sox
One night after posting a wild victory in the series opener, the Kansas City Royals seek to improve to 5-0 against the Chicago White Sox this season when the teams square off Friday night. The Royals swept the White Sox at home to open the season and captured a 3-2 triumph in Chicago on Thursday in the first game of the four-game set.
Thursday's game featured a benches-clearing brawl that led to five ejections, but Kansas City prevailed to become the first American League team to reach 12 victories. Eric Hosmer had the decisive double in the 13th inning to lead the Royals to their fourth win in five games, while the White Sox have alternated wins and losses over the last seven contests. Jose Quintana will get the start for Chicago as he seeks to rebound from a dreadful outing last weekend. Danny Duffy gets the nod for Kansas City in a pitching rematch from earlier this month.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FSN Kansas City, WGN (Chicago)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Royals LH Danny Duffy (1-0, 5.51 ERA) vs. White Sox LH Jose Quintana (1-1, 8.40)
Duffy had walked one batter in 11 1/3 innings over his first two starts before allowing five walks in five innings against Oakland on Sunday. Right-handed hitters are batting .306 against Duffy, who is 2-1 with a 4.57 ERA in five career starts versus Chicago. One of those outings came April 8, when the White Sox reached Duffy for five runs in five innings in an eventual 7-5 win by the Royals.
Quintana gave up a career-high nine runs in four innings against Detroit his last time out, allowing two homers in the process. This will be the first home start of the season for the Colombia native, who is affording right-handers a .373 batting average and a 1.026 OPS. Quintana also yielded five runs in five innings April 8 as both southpaws earned a no-decision that night.
WALK-OFFS
1. White Sox star Jose Abreu is 3-for-7 with a double and a home run in his career against Duffy.
2. There have been eight hit batters in four games between the teams this season.
3. Kansas City 3B Mike Moustakas has gone eight straight games without striking out.