Scouting report

Posted March 28, 2019 1:00 am

White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium

TV:

NBC Sports Chicago Thursday and Saturday; WGN Sunday

Radio:

WGN 720-AM

Pitching matchups:

The White Sox's Carlos Rodon (6-8) vs. Brad Keller (9-6) Thursday at 3:15 p.m.; Reynaldo Lopez (7-10) vs. Jakob Junis (9-12) Saturday at 1:15 p.m.; Lucas Giolito (10-13) vs. Jorge Lopez (2-5) Sunday at 1:15 p.m.

At a glance:

The White Sox open the regular season at Kansas City for the second straight year. In 2018, the Sox hammered the Royals 14-7 and Matt Davidson tied a major-league record with 3 home runs on Opening Day. Tim Anderson added 2 homers and Jose Abreu hit a 2-run shot. The White Sox went on to finish the season with a 62-100 record, the third-worst record in baseball. The Royals (58-104) had the second-worst record. Sox outfielder Leury Garcia led the Cactus League with a .440 batting average. Rodon makes his first career opening-day start. The lefty faced K.C. once last season and allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 5 walks in 6 innings. He also had 5 strikeouts. The Royals should be dangerous running the bases. Whit Merrifield led the AL with 45 stolen bases last season and Adalberto Mondesi had 32 steals in 75 games. Kansas City brought back speedy outfielder Terrance Gore and also signed Billy Hamilton, who stole 50 or more bases in four straight seasons (2014-17) with the Reds.

Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field, Monday and Wednesday

- Scot Gregor

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