[jksander]

August 25, 2025: Brandon Pfaadt (8-11, 4.33 ERA, 153.2 IP, 161 K’s, 1.20 WHIP) pitched against Shane Bieber (4-2, 4.50 ERA, 54.0 IP, 53 K’s, 1.31 WHIP) in game one against the Royals, and in the bottom of the second Michael A. Turner gave us a solid lead when he hit a three-run homer out of center! Yordys Valdes hit an RBI single to add on in the fourth, but Kansas City got on the board in the top of the sixth with an RBI double off the bat of Vinnie Pasquantino. Starline Marte got us the run back with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning, and Joey Gallo hit a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh to give us a five run advantage. Julian Merryweather took the ball with one out and a man on first in the top of the eighth, and Taylor hit his second homer of the night in the bottom of the eighth to make it a six-run lead. Merryweather finished the job and we were able to cash in the 7-1 victory! Pfaadt has gone 3-1 since joining our White Sox, making it through 7.1 innings tonight with six hits, a walk, five strikeouts and one earned run. We outhit the Royals 10-6, led by Taylor, who had three hits, a walk, three runs and four RBIs, hitting his 14th and 15th homers of the season.

August 26, 2025: Yu Darvish (10-9, 3.88 ERA, 134.2 IP, 127 K’s, 1.26 WHIP) pitched against Michael Wacha (9-13, 4.57 ERA, 155.2 IP, 125 K’s, 1.39 WHIP) in game two of the series, and the Royals got the lead in the top of the second off a solo homer by Nelson Velasquez. They added another in the fourth off the bat of Vinny Pasquantino, but in the bottom of the inning we tied the score on a two-run homer by Brooks Lee, and moments later Terrell Tatum hit a two-run double to put us into the lead 4-2. Joey Gallo added on with a homer in the fifth, and though they got that run back in the top of the sixth off a Pasquantino RBI single, we still led 5-3 when Kimbrel took over in the top of the seventh. Martin Perez came out to pitch in the eighth, and the Royals inched closer with an RBI double by Dairon Blanco, tying it with an RBI single by Bobby Witt Jr as Perez managed to blow the save opportunity. Penn Murfee took over in the ninth, still tied at 5-5, and they immediately took the lead off a solo homer by Velasquez, his second of the game ... two batters later, Michael Massey hit one to make it 7-5, and we brought Bazardo out of the pen with one out and Blake Mitchell on first, just wanting to end this one. We put up no resistance in the bottom of the inning and lost this one 7-5, a disappointing finish to a game we’d dominated through the seventh. Perez got the blown save, his fourth, and Murfee fell to 1-4 with a 4.69 ERA, allowing three hits and two runs with one strikeout in his one third of an inning. Each team had 11 hits, ours led by Tatum, who had two hits, a walk and two runs before injuring his shoulder in the outfield -- he’ll be day to day for at least four days as our outfield continues to get hammered.

August 27, 2025: Noah Schultz (6-4, 3.40 ERA, 76.2 IP, 73 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) pitched against Kyle Wright (1-0, 9.00 ERA, 8.0 IP, 9 K’s, 2.50 WHIP) in our final game of the series against the Royals. And Schultz had a great night, though our bats did him no favors ... he pitched six innings and when he handed the ball to Shane Smith in the seventh the score was still 0-0. With two outs in the top of the seventh, Kansas City broke us with a two-run homer by MJ Melendez, and an absolutely putrid showing by our hitters doomed us from there. Syndergaard came out in the ninth and had a rough go of it, loading the bases and giving up a third run, but he got three strikeouts in a row to get us into the bottom of the inning ready to see this one end. We lost his one as a 3-0 shutout, getting outhit 6-1, with just three baserunners the entire game. Smith took the loss, falling to 5-4 with two hits and two runs, and Schultz had pitched six innings with two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts. What a waste. Joey Gallo “led” the team with a hit and a walk.

We’ll end the month with four games against the Yankees, who lead the AL East with a 78-55 record, 7.5 games up on the Blue Jays of Toronto who are tied with Kansas City for the top wildcard spot. We’re now 55-78 and in last place in the American League, though at least we can say we have better records than National League bottom-dwellers Colorado (52-81) and San Francisco (49-84). But we’ve lost seven of our last ten, so we’re hardly in a position to boast about anything.