John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago White Sox are the perfect team for New York Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to start against. The White Sox have been dreadful all year, and they proved that yesterday after a drudging by the Yanks. The final score was 9-1, but the game was over after the fourth inning, when the boys in pinstripes put up an eight-spot on the scoreboard.
The Yanks scored nine runs without hitting a home run, which they haven’t done since the fourth of July. It’s impressive to see the Yankees’ offense string together hits like they did in the fourth inning yesterday, but their offense has been clicking as of late. They have had 15 games of eight plus runs and 10 plus hits this season, and seven of them have come in the past 20 games.
But getting back to Kuroda, he has been slipping in his recent starts. The last four times he’s taken the mound, he is 1-3 with a 5.47 ERA. That is far from what he’s done all season, even with this mini slump he’s in, his ERA on the season is still a minuscule 2.89. In the four starts that Kuroda has made against the White Sox, he is 2-2 with a 2.86 ERA.
Tonight isn’t an automatic win, as the Sox are sending out Chris Sale, by far the best pitcher on their squad. He is a scary 2-0 with a 0.49 ERA in the five games he’s pitched against the Yanks. Given only two of them are starts, those numbers are still unbelievable. Every game is a must-win at this point while the Yanks are making a playoff push, but Kuroda really has to get out of this funk that he’s in, and the Sox are the perfect team for him to face to get back on track.
