Anthony Kay scuffles in loss against Royals

Kay and Gavin Williams matched zero-for-zero for the first five innings, but Kay blinked first with a two-run homer allowed in the sixth to Rhy Hoskins. It turned into a no-decision with the White Sox also getting a pair off Williams in the sixth. The southpaw struck out four against one walk, and his ERA has dipped below 4.00 to 3.96. That’s now seven straight starts where Kay has not allowed more than three runs, and a chance to make it eight comes Friday in Detroit against the Tigers.

In both the fourth and sixth innings, the Rays were able to string together three hits against Kay, but they were all singles and none produced any runs. Kay improved to 8-5 with a 4.01 ERA. He’s certainly not overwhelming anyone, but he’s gone six straight starts without allowing more than three runs. He’ll face the Guardians next weekend.

If you take away the second inning, Kay was excellent. You cannot legally do that, and the southpaw allowed three runs in that frame; three more than Gerrit Cole allowed in his six innings, so it’s the fifth loss of the season for the 31-year-old southpaw. Still, this outing was better than the box score might suggest, and this was the first time in five starts that Kay has allowed more than two runs in an outing. He’ll be back on the bump Sunday against the Rays if there’s no change to the rotation order for Chicago.

This was a laborious five innings from Kay. After giving up a home run in the second, he put runners in scoring position in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings. The most stressful of those was the fourth when he loaded the bases with zero outs and somehow escaped with just one run scoring. It wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done and forced 15 whiffs in the process. That was tied for the second-most in a single game in his career. One other time where he forced at least 15 whiffs was way back in 2021. Otherwise, the other three have come in his last eight starts. Next up, he’s scheduled for a two-start week against the Yankees at home and Rays on the road.

Kay kept the Jays off the board for the first two innings of this one, but saw his first earned run come across to score in the third inning on a fielder’s choice by George Springer. In the fourth inning, Kay would allow a solo homer to Luis Urías in the second inning and left the game to start the fifth inning while holding onto a 5-2 lead. The lone run he allowed in the third inning was a sign of good fortune, as Kay allowed four batters to reach base in the frame, but the Jays were unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position. Kay’s next start is scheduled for Wednesday against the Rangers.

The White Sox will return from the break with their top three starters going. This will also set up Erick Fedde for a two-start week against Texas and Houston the following week.

The runs scored on a Caleb Durbin homer in the fourth. Kay got into trouble in the second, hitting the first batter of the inning and then, on a soft grounder to the first baseman, getting to the base just a tad too late to retire Connor Wong. At that point, though, the Red Sox opted to bunt for some reason. Anthony Seigler got down the sacrifice, but Boston failed to score from there. Kay dropped to 6-4 with a 4.23 ERA. The White Sox are surely still pleased with his first half, but his 17.6 percent strikeout rate, combined with average-ish walk and groundball rates, doesn’t bode particularly well for the second half.

Kay’s solid start was cut short by a rain delay in the top of the fifth inning that ended up forcing both starters from the game by the time play resumed. The lefty was putting together a nice outing before the delay, allowing just three batters to reach base, with the lone hit he allowed coming on an RBI single by Travis Bazzana. Kay has faced the Guardians in two of his last three starts and has allowed just one earned run over 10 innings pitched to his division rival. He’ll look to build on this outing in his next start, which is scheduled for Thursday at home against the Red Sox.

Kay gave up three hits, walked two and struck out eight. He’s had at least seven strikeouts in two of his last three starts. Kay lowered his ERA to 4.24, but his 4.79 xFIP makes him difficult to trust in most fantasy leagues. He’s lined up to face the Royals at home this weekend.

Kay’s cold stretch continued here. Cody Bellinger jumped on him for a two-run home run in the first before the Yankees tacked on two more in the second. He had no feel for either his sweeper or changeup – each an important put-away pitch for him against hitters from each side of the plate – and struggled through most at-bats as a result. Having just faced the Phillies, Dodgers, and now Yankees in consecutive starts, he jumped from a 3.77 ERA on June 1st to a 4.61 mark by the time this one was over. He’s scheduled for a two-start week coming up against the Guardians and Royals.