Game CI: Royals v. White Sox

As it turns out, baseball can be fun sometimes. When you have Salvador Perez, baseball can be really fun. And last night was really fun. Sal’s game-tying home run in the 9th paved the way for a walk-off extra-inning victory, making them 8-3 since the break.

They’ll have the chance to take their third consecutive series this afternoon against the division-leading White Sox, thanks to All-Star closer and old friend Liam Hendriks blowing his 5th save of the season last night.

Kansas City is hot, but also 12-games under .500, making this week’s traded deadline a bit murky. Max Reiper looked at the trade market for first baseman Carlos Santana this morning, but Dayton Moore has made clear that any core pieces moving is unlikely.

In the meantime, Kansas City has the very stuffy Carlos Hernandez going today, who has struggled in his first two starts with the Royals. He has given up seven-runs in 6.2 innings. To be fair, he struggled in the bullpen too. He had a 7.07 ERA through June 23, before giving up just one run across his next 7.2 innings with 11 strikeouts. That got him promoted to the starting rotation.

He’ll take on a White Sox lineup that tagged him back in April, giving up three hits, a walk, and two runs in just a third of an inning. To make matters worse, he’ll be opposed by Carlos Rodon, who is in the midst of a career year.

He got hit pretty hard by the Royals back in May but has given up more than four runs in a start just twice since then.

Here are your lineups for this afternoon’s game. Andrew Benintendi gets the day off.