White Sox take winning attitude into series against Royals

The Chicago White Sox have established a reputation for resilience while asserting themselves as a contender in the American League Central.

"We play until the last out," outfielder Randal Grichuk said. "We're going to keep fighting regardless of the situation. We've seen it many times -- down four, five, six, put together a run late in the game. Definitely fighting until the end."

Co-division-leading Chicago will take that attitude into their contest against the visiting Kansas City Royals in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night.

Fueled by sturdy pitching and clutch hitting, the White Sox took two of three games from Cleveland to start the week to tie the Guardians atop the Central.

Even Chicago's lone loss in the series had the clubhouse buzzing. Trailing by two runs in the ninth inning with two outs and the bases empty on Wednesday, the White Sox tied the game with solo home runs from Braden Montgomery and Grichuk.

Cleveland recovered for a 4-3 victory in 10 innings to avoid a sweep.

"To be able to win a series against these guys means a lot," Chicago manager Will Venable said. "At the same time, we were challenged a lot throughout this series, and some things that we can grow from and learn from. Some things we've got to clean up. But also a lot of positive stuff from our pitching staff."

The Royals channeled a different refrain after splitting a four-game road series against the Tampa Bay Rays this week. After two Jac Caglianone home runs keyed Tuesday's resounding 12-5 victory, Kansas City was outscored 18-5 in losing the final two games.

"You get the first two, you want a sweep; you want to win the series," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. "We didn't do that, so these last two days are extremely disappointing."

Still, Kansas City is 5-3 in its past eight games after Thursday's 13-2 loss in the series finale.

Carter Jensen blasted a two-run home run with one out in the ninth inning to help the Royals avoid being no-hit for the third time in club history. One of those no-hitters, on May 15, 1973, was the first of Baseball Hall of Fame member Nolan Ryan's seven.

"Never the situation you want to be in as a team, but I think we kept our head in the game," said Jensen, who extended his hitting streak to 16 games. "We didn't roll over. We were putting together good at-bats. Their guys were on. Had some hard-hit balls right at some people, but that's the game of baseball."

Right-hander Stephen Kolek initially was set to start for the Royals on Friday, but the team is expected to put him on the paternity list after he returned home for the birth of his first child.

The White Sox haven't named a starter, either, but they could recall rookie right-hander David Sandlin from Triple-A Charlotte. Sandlin is 1-1 with an 8.10 ERA in three major league games this season.

Chicago has won nine straight series at Rate Field, including a three-game sweep of Kansas City from May 12-14 in which the White Sox outscored the Royals 18-12.

The Royals and White Sox split a four-game series in Kansas City from April 9-12. After this weekend, the clubs aren't scheduled to meet again until the final week of the regular season, at Kauffman Stadium.