After a very successful weekend series with the Tigers, the White Sox need to carry that momentum to Kansas City. Much like the rest of the AL Central, the Sox have struggled against the Royals. The White Sox are just 10-17 against the AL Central and are 2-3 against the Royals. In their last 13 meetings in Kansas City, the Royals have won nine of those games.
The Sox will send their hottest pitcher to the bump in game one of the series. Mark Buehrle has been fantastic since May. Buehrle (6-5) is 5-2 with a 2.62 ERA in his last twelve starts and the Sox have won 10 of those outings. Against Kansas City, Buehrle has also had recent success. In his last four starts against the Royals, the lefty is 1-0 with a 3.81 ERA and the Sox have won all four of those games.
Kyle Davies will start for the Royals in the series opener. Davies is just 1-8 on the season with an ERA of 7.74. The Royals right-hander has lost his last seven starts with an ERA of 8.10. With as bad as those numbers might be, Davies did pitch well in his last start against the Sox. Last September, Davies went six innings and allowed just one run.
Two players to keep an eye on Monday are Melky Cabrera and Paul Konerko. Cabrera is 12 for 20 in his career against Buehrle and Konerko is 9 for 17 against Davies.
The forecast at the time of first pitch in Kansas City is temps in the 90's with a heat index near 110. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 CST. The game can be seen on CSN.