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The Kansas City Royals will look to win their sixth straight game Sunday and sweep the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.
Bruce Chen will start the game for Kansas City. The southpaw has pitched well in his two starts since replacing Luis Mendoza in the rotation, as he has only surrendered one run over 12 innings. Chen's peripheral statistics, however, suggest that he is essentially the same pitcher he was last season, which should shock no one. He may be able to give the Royals a good start today against a hapless White Sox offense, but we can expect him to regress towards his career numbers moving forward.
Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain have the day off, replaced by George Kottaras and Jarrod Dyson. Joel Goldberg of FSKC brings us the Royals batting order:
#Royals vs LHP Santiago: Gordon 7 Escobar 6 Hosmer 3 Butler DH Lough 9 Tejada 4 Moose 5 Kottaras 2 Dyson 8 Chen 1
— Joel Goldberg (@goldbergkc) July 28, 2013
Miguel Tejada continues to earn more playing time. I really wish that wasn't a completely understandable decision, giving the other options at second base.
Hector Santiago will take the mound for Chicago. Santiago owns a 3.38 ERA, but his 4.20 FIP suggests middle of the rotation instead of No. 2 starter. The lefty has fanned 24.4% of the batters he has faced this season, but his 11.1% walk rate keeps him from turning into a more dominant pitcher. Santiago has still been a pleasant surprise for the White Sox the past two seasons, giving them another solid left-handed starter.
Tyler Flowers will start for the White Sox at catcher, but the rest of the order remains the same. White Sox Talk brings us the Chicago starting nine:
Today's #WhiteSox lineup. Coverage starts at 12:30 on @CSNChicago. pic.twitter.com/DulPWVSqQU
— White Sox Talk (@WhiteSoxTalkCSN) July 28, 2013
FSKC will carry the game in Kansas City, which starts at 1:10 p.m. CT.
Song of the Day: Snowgoons - The Hatred (ft. Slaine and Singapore Kane)
Snwgoons are underground hip-hop produces based out of Germany. DJ Illegal and Det are the original members, but they have added a pair of additional produces to the group. They group's beats are impressive, and they bring in solid rappers from the underground to lend verses on their tracks.