The Chicago White Sox will look to build on an elite offensive performance when they face the Athletics on Saturday afternoon in the middle contest of a three-game set at West Sacramento, Calif.

Chicago equaled its top scoring output of the campaign and racked up a season-high 15 hits during Friday’s 9-2 shellacking of the Athletics.

Munetaka Murakami smacked his first major league grand slam as part of a 3-for-5 outing. The left-handed-hitting Murakami’s seventh-inning blast cleared the tall batter’s eye beyond the center-field wall.

“I struck out the at-bat before, so I was trying to see the ball well and really get a good swing at it,” Murakami said through an interpreter. “And the result was the best I did.”

The grand slam, off Elvis Alvarado, was Murakami’s sixth homer in his 20 games with the White Sox. The 26-year-old starred in Japan with five seasons of 30 or more homers before signing with the White Sox in the offseason.

His wallop was the highlight of a standout offensive showing for Chicago, which has scored three or fewer runs 13 times this season. In fact, the White Sox had only 60 runs — second fewest in the majors — before Friday’s feast.

Murakami raised his batting average to .200, with 13 RBIs. He struck out twice and has fanned 28 times in 65 at-bats.

Andrew Benintendi was 3-for-6 with two runs and one RBI for Chicago, which won for just the third time in the past 11 games.

“It was really nice,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Those guys have been putting together really good at-bats; just nothing to show for it. To be able to come out, continue that and get rewarded was really nice. It was up and down the lineup.”

The Athletics had just four hits while losing their second straight game. Nick Kurtz had an RBI single when he won a 13-pitch battle with White Sox right-hander Davis Martin.

“That was our best at-bat of the night,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “He fought off a lot of pitches. It’s an at-bat we’ve seen from Nick in the past, and we’re starting to see more of those at-bats. We did some early work (before the game) with Nick, and it looks like things are turning in the right direction.”

The A’s committed just one error Friday, but Kotsay was concerned about the defense.

“We have to play clean games, and (Friday’s game) wasn’t one of those,” he said.

Athletics right-hander Luis Severino (0-2, 5.59 ERA) will take another swipe at ending his woes inside Sutter Health Park on Saturday.

Severino lost to the Texas Rangers 8-1 on Monday when he gave up four runs and six hits over six innings. He served up two homers, walked three and struck out seven in his first 2026 home outing. The setback leaves him 2-10 with a 6.01 ERA in 16 starts in West Sacramento since joining the A’s prior to last season. Severino sharply criticized the ballpark last June.

Severino is 2-3 with a 4.44 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against the White Sox. Benintendi (13-for-38) is batting .342 with two homers, one triple, four doubles and 10 RBIs against Severino.

The White Sox will turn to right-hander Erick Fedde (0-3, 3.38 ERA) on Saturday. He has allowed only 14 hits and three walks in 16 innings, but Chicago has just three total runs in his three outings.

Fedde’s lone career appearance against the A’s was rough. He allowed six runs and nine hits in 2 2/3 innings during a 10-6 loss on Aug. 30, 2022, when he was a member of the Washington Nationals.

Jeff McNeil is 7-for-18 against Fedde from when both players were in the National League.

–Field Level Media

With two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal taking the mound, a pitchers’ duel could be on tap as the visiting Detroit Tigers look to even their four-game series against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon.

Skubal (2-2, 2.22 ERA), a left-hander, will try to play the role of stopper as Detroit’s road skid reached nine games with a 1-0, 10-inning setback in Friday’s series opener. Before Friday though, the Tigers had been on a six-game winning streak, with home sweeps of the Miami Marlins and Kansas City Royals.

Masataka Yoshida’s pinch-hit single scored Jarren Duran with the only run in a game Friday that featured just four hits for each team. For Detroit, Jahmai Jones had two.

Skubal will make his first start at Fenway Park since 2023. Last Sunday, in an 8-2 win over the Marlins, he threw 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts but thought he could do better. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

“My stuff wasn’t good,” Skubal said. “But those things happen in baseball. It’s not always when you have your best stuff. If that was the case, it would be easy to predict our game. It’s just not like that.”

Skubal carries a 2-2 record and 4.91 ERA against Boston into Saturday’s game, his sixth start vs. the Red Sox. Most recently, he allowed five runs on seven hits while striking out 11 in a May 14, 2025, no-decision in a game the Tigers won 6-5.

Before Friday’s first pitch, Detroit placed infielder Zach McKinstry on the 10-day injured list with left hip/abdominal inflammation and recalled No. 6 prospect Hao-Yu Lee from Triple-A Toledo for his MLB debut. He went 0-for-3.

“We’re excited for Lee to get his feet wet in the big leagues,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve had him in camp the last couple of seasons. … He can play good defense. He’s a good baseball player.”

Beyond Jones, Kevin McGonigle had another hit, giving him 22 and a .306 average to lead all AL rookies.

An eight-inning start from Ranger Suarez helped set the stage for Boston’s second consecutive win on Friday, but it took an extra frame and Yoshida’s first career walk-off knock to get the job done.

Yoshida has just 29 at-bats this season, though he is on a six-game hitting streak.

“In these situations, I know how he feels; you want to play,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We got him for a reason here (from Japan), and he’s been banged up, and now all of a sudden, this is how we’re going to play the game … with this roster and we’re going to maximize it, but it’s not easy.”

The Friday shutout win was Boston’s third of the season and second in as many home games.

Brayan Bello (1-1, 6.14 ERA) will look to throw his own gem on Saturday. The right-hander gave up a total of 10 runs (eight earned) in his first two starts before earning his first win with 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball last Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 9-3 game.

“When I’m staying in the zone, this is the result that you get,” Bello said after the game. “When I’m executing all of my pitches, being aggressive in the zone, this is what happens.”

Bello is 0-1 with a 5.74 ERA in three career starts against Detroit. He took a no-decision in a 10-9 Tigers win on May 13, 2025, after allowing three runs (two earned) in 4 2/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

A day after he was presented his 2025 National League Cy Young Award, Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes will be on the mound to face the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday afternoon.

Skenes (3-1, 4.00 ERA), who will oppose fellow right-hander Drew Rasmussen (1-0, 1.13) on Saturday, was presented the award by 1990 Cy Young winner and former Pirates ace Doug Drabek before the Pirates’ 5-1 win over Tampa Bay.

Skenes, who is 1-0 with an 0.64 ERA in two career starts against the Rays, has pitched more like a Cy Young winner since his disastrous Opening Day outing against the New York Mets in which he gave up five runs and didn’t survive the first inning. He is 3-0 with a 1.56 ERA in his three starts since then, allowing just six hits — including two solo home runs — striking out 17 batters and walking five.

In his most recent start, against the Washington Nationals on Monday, he allowed a solo home run to CJ Abrams with two outs in the first and did not allow another hit over his six-inning start in the Pirates’ 16-5 victory.

A major difference for Skenes this season has been the Pirates providing significant run support.

Pittsburgh scored only 11 runs in Skenes’ 10 losses last season. This season, they have scored a combined 25 runs in the innings before Skenes has exited his four starts and have scored seven or more runs in every game he’s started. Against Washington on Monday, the Pirates scored 15 runs over the first six innings.

“I told the guys after the game, ‘It makes it easy to pitch,'” Skenes said. “Even if I’m not getting it while I’m in the game, being out there pitching and knowing that it’s going to happen at some point makes it a lot easier to pitch.”

Rasmussen, an All-Star last year, is settling back into his normal pitching routine after a hectic 10-day period that followed the birth of his daughter. Rasmussen was scratched from his scheduled start on April 7 when his wife went into labor, and he spent the next four days on the paternity list and the family medical emergency list.

Rasmussen made a decision to pitch last Sunday against the New York Yankees without much time to prepare. He threw a gem in which he tossed six shutout innings and allowed one hit, no walks and struck out seven on 76 pitches in beating the Yankees 5-4.

“Stevie (his wife) and I ultimately decided maybe a little bit of normalcy would be nice,” Rasmussen said about choosing to come back early and pitch last Sunday. “Just kind of trying to focus on execution, putting a little bit more weight on (catcher Hunter Feduccia’s) shoulders and just taking it pitch by pitch. I don’t know if I shook off (Feduccia’s pitch call) once, in all honesty.”

Rasmussen said his wife, newborn daughter, and their son are all home, and he was able to resume his normal routines this week.

The Rays lost Rasmussen’s first two starts despite him not allowing more than one earned run over five innings in each outing. He has 17 strikeouts, one walk, and am 0.56 WHIP over 16 innings.

His next task will be to get the Rays back on track after they had their six-game winning streak snapped on Friday. Rasmussen is 1-0 with a 2.19 ERA in six career appearances vs. Pittsburgh, including one start.

–Field Level Media