Anthony Kay solid again in win over Guardians

Kay gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three. He fell to 9-8 with the loss. Kay has now allowed 14 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings (9.55 ERA) over his last three starts. His 3.96 ERA prior to that stretch has increased to 4.47 on the season. Kay is lined up to face the Cardinals on the road next weekend.

Kay gave up six hits, walked two and struck out five. He fell to 9-7 with the loss. Kay has now allowed 10 runs combined and failed to complete five innings in either of his last two starts. He has a 4.28 ERA. Kay is lined up to face the Twins at home this weekend.

Kay gave up six hits, walked two and struck out four. He entered play Tuesday with a 2.66 ERA in four August starts. Kay wasn’t quite as sharp against the Rangers as even with an 8-1 lead he couldn’t complete the fifth inning. He has a 4.09 ERA this year. Kay is lined up to face the Astros on the road next week.

Kay struck out six and walked one. He allowed one run through six before giving up a double to Michael Harris II to start the seventh and immediately being lifted afterwards. Harris later came around to score. Kay has given up three runs or fewer in nine straight starts, going 3-3 with a 3.23 ERA during the span. He’ll take his next turn Tuesday against the Rangers.

Kay surrendered a run in the first inning on a walk and two hits. Eduardo Valencia later took Kay deep for a solo homer in the fourth inning before a pair of doubles scored a third run in the fifth. Kay recorded the first out in the sixth and departed at 86 pitches with four strikeouts. The 31-year-old left-hander will take a 4.01 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and a 98/44 K/BB ratio across 121 1/3 innings into a start against the Braves in Chicago on Thursday.

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.