Game Thread XXXII: White Sox at Royals

The Royals have lost six games in a row. They have failed to score for two and a half straight games. One bad week has nearly undone all the hard work of one month of play leaving them with a record of 16-15, only one game above .500.

None of that matters because Daniel Lynch will take the mound, tonight.

Lynch is making his second career start as a Royal and he’ll hope to have a bit more command of his fastball than he had the first time. The offense will look to score some runs. The bullpen will largely hope to go without being called upon but will otherwise hope to not blow a lead.

Mike Matheny has tweaked the lineup again, today. Salvador Perez is back in the three-hole with Carlos Santana dropping down to the two-spot. It’s unclear to me why he doesn’t just go back to lineup he used while the Royals were winning all those games and scoring all those runs a week or so ago. But I guess that’s why he’s an MLB manager and I am not.

Lancy Lynn will pitch for the White Sox today. This will be his second time facing the Royals this year. Much to the dismay of anyone who roots for the Royals, including the players themselves, he pitched a complete-game shutout the last time he saw them. Things do not bode well for the Royals.

The only good news I can offer you is that Lynn is like a fraction of Lynch. So maybe Lynn will be a fraction of the pitcher that Lynch will be today.

Lineups