Anthony Kay allows six runs in loss to Astros

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.

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.