Kay (5-1) picked up the win in Saturday's 7-1 victory over the Tigers, allowing one run on six hits and a walk over five-plus innings. He struck out three.
The lefty cruised through five frames, giving up just a solo shot to Wenceel Perez in the third inning, but Kay got the hook after 84 pitches (54 strikes) when the first two Detroit hitters reached to open the sixth. Kay has four wins in his last five starts, a stretch in which he's delivered a stellar 1.65 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 22:9 K:BB through 27.1 innings. He'll look to keep rolling in his next outing, which is set to come on the road next weekend in Philadelphia.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Picks up fourth win Monday
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Kay (4-1) earned the win Monday against the Twins, allowing one run on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts across six innings.
Kay's lone blemish was a solo homer allowed to Brooks Lee on just his fourth pitch of the game. After entering May with a 6.12 ERA, Kay has allowed two earned runs or fewer in all five starts this month and has posted his two quality starts of 2026 over his last three outings. The left-hander has shown above average stuff (105 Stuff+), including a very good sinker, slider and changeup trio, and has lowered his season ERA to 3.96 with a 39:23 K:BB across 52.1 innings. His 16 percent strikeout rate is in just the 12th percentile.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Effectively wild in no-decision
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Kay allowed one run on one hit, three walks and two hit batsmen while striking out five over 5.1 innings in a no-decision versus the Mariners on Tuesday.
Kay didn't have his best control, but the Mariners' bats failed to punish him for it. He's now allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his last four starts, adding a 19:8 K:BB across 21.1 innings in that span. For the season, he's at a 4.27 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and 34:22 K:BB through 46.1 innings over 10 appearances (eight starts). The southpaw is projected to make his next start at home versus the Twins.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Tosses first quality start
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Kay (3-1) earned the win over Kansas City on Thursday, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out four batters over six-plus innings.
Kay gave up a run in the first inning but then tossed five straight scoreless frames. He departed after giving up a leadoff triple in the seventh, and though that runner eventually came around to score, Kay ended with both a quality start and a victory. The southpaw has shown improvement on the mound of late -- after failing to complete five innings in five of his first six starts and posting a 6.12 ERA over that span, he's tossed at least five frames in each of his past three starts and has given up just four earned runs while notching a 14:5 K:BB across 16 innings during that stretch. Kay is projected to next take the mound next week in Seattle.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Earns win vs. Seattle
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Kay (2-1) earned the win Saturday against the Mariners after allowing one unearned run on three hits and two walks across five innings. He struck out five.
Kay struggled in two late-April starts with 12 earned runs allowed, but he seems to have turned things around with a 1.80 ERA in his past two outings. Kay has given up two earned runs or fewer in six of his eight starts this season, though his overall numbers remain a bit shaky with his matchup with the Mariners reducing his ERA to 4.89 and WHIP to 1.57. He is expected to make his next start on the road against the Cubs next weekend.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Improves in no-decision
Rotowire
Kay allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk while striking out five over five innings in a no-decision versus the Padres on Sunday.
Kay was a little better this time out. He kept the Padres off the scoreboard for three innings, but he gave up solo home runs to Miguel Andujar and Manny Machado in the fourth inning, making this the second time in three starts he's allowed multiple homers. Kay is now at a 5.70 ERA, 1.67 WHIP and 20:15 K:BB over 30 innings through seven appearances (five starts) this season. He is tentatively projected to make his next start at home versus the Mariners.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Struggles again Monday
Rotowire
Kay allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out two batters over four innings in a no-decision against the Angels on Monday.
Kay fell behind quickly, giving up a run in the first inning. He allowed two more in the second and another in the fourth before departing. The left-hander needed 90 pitches to complete his four frames, and he's now thrown fewer than five innings in five of his six appearances this season. Kay was at least managing to limit runs early in the campaign, but that hasn't been the case in his past two outings, as he's given up a combined 12 runs across over 7.2 frames during that span. He has a poor 6.12 ERA and 15:14 K:BB through 25 total innings, so he belongs on the waiver wire in most fantasy leagues.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Labors in long relief
Rotowire
Kay took a no-decision Thursday against the Rays, allowing one run on four hits and one walk in 2.2 innings. He struck out one.
Serving as a bulk reliever behind opener Jordan Leasure on Thursday, Kay did his part to keep the White Sox in the game but wasn't particularly efficient. It was the left-hander's shortest outing of the year so far, and it was disappointing to see him get pulled at just 71 pitches after he tossed 100 his last time out. It's unclear how Chicago will choose to deploy Kay going forward -- the hurler has a pair of appearances each as a starter and reliever -- but he'll bring a respectable 2.60 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 12:3 K:BB across 17.1 frames into his next scheduled outing, which lines up to come on the road versus Arizona.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: In line for bulk relief Thursday
Rotowire
Kay is expected to serve as a bulk reliever behind opening pitcher Jordan Leasure in Thursday's home game against the Rays.
The White Sox have made liberal use of openers through their first 19 games, using Grant Taylor in that capacity on four occasions and now Leasure in what will be his second career start and first of 2026. The arrangement should prove to be a favorable one for Kay, who will have a better chance at qualifying for a win as a bulk reliever than as a starter and will likely enter the game facing the bottom half of the Tampa Bay lineup. Through his first three outings (two starts) of the season, Kay has gone 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 11:8 K:BB in 14.2 innings.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Notches first MLB win since 2021
Rotowire
Kay (1-0) earned the victory over Kansas City on Thursday, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out six batters over 5.2 scoreless innings.
Kay tossed 100 pitches in the outing, racking up 13 whiffs among 63 total strikes. He did hit two batters, but neither instance cost him on the scoreboard. Kay has held his own in his return to the majors after spending the previous two years in Japan, though Thursday's outing was his first time completing five innings this season. Overall, he has a 2.45 ERA and 1.16 WHIP with an 11:8 K:BB over 14.2 frames spanning three appearances. With those numbers, he could start attracting attention even in mixed fantasy leagues, especially if he can start to consistently pitch deep enough to qualify for wins.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: No-decision against former club
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Kay didn't factor into the decision in Saturday's 6-3 win over the Blue Jays, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks over 4.1 innings of relief. He didn't strike out a batter.
Facing the team he made his big-league debut with back in 2019, the southpaw took the mound as a bulk reliever after Grant Taylor worked a scoreless first inning. Kay kept the goose eggs coming until Vladimir Guerrero touched him up for a two-run shot in the sixth, and he exited after 76 pitches (46 strikes). Kay is still looking for his first MLB win since 2021 after spending the last two seasons in Japan, and he'll take a 4.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 5:6 K:BB through nine innings into his next outing, which is set to come on the road next week in Kansas City.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: No-decision in first start of 2026
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Kay did not factor into Sunday's decision against the Brewers. He allowed two runs on three hits and four walks while striking out five across 4.2 innings.
Kay yielded a two-run homer to Gary Sanchez in the first frame, but the former received plenty of run support from the White Sox through the first three innings of Sunday's game. However, Kay allowed at least two baserunners in three of five innings, running up his pitch count to 92 (54 strikes) before being pulled with two outs in the fifth frame. Kay mostly worked out of the bullpen in his MLB career before serving as a starter in 2024 and 2025 in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan with the Yokohama Bay Stars. Kay is slated to start next weekend at home against the Blue Jays.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Penciled in as No. 3 starter
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Kay is expected to begin the season as the White Sox's No. 3 starter, lining him up to make his season debut March 29 at Milwaukee, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports.
The left-hander joined Chicago on a two-year, $12 million contract in December after pitching to a 2.53 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 249:94 K:BB over 291.2 frames in Japan the previous two years. Kay was unremarkable across parts of five MLB seasons before heading to Japan, but his return stateside has gone well so far with a 2.16 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in five spring starts.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Added sinker while overseas
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Kay developed a sinker while pitching with the Yokohama Bay Stars, Kade Heather of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Kay struggled to establish himself in the majors in partial seasons from 2019 through 2023, and he spent the last two seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball League. He developed the sinker because his high fastball was less effective overseas, given that Japanese players typically have a flatter swing. Kay is now readjusting his approach in his return to MLB, where he previously relied primarily on his fastball, slider and changeup. He is set to make his first Cactus League start Tuesday, though it's unclear how much of his pitch mix he will show.
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White Sox's Anthony Kay: Gets $12 million from White Sox
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The White Sox signed Kay to a two-year, $12 million contract Wednesday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
Kay is returning to the majors after a two-year stint with the Yokohama Bay Stars of Nippon Professional Baseball, for whom he held a 2.53 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 249:94 K:BB over 291.2 innings. The left-hander set a new franchise record with a 1.74 ERA in 2025 and also led NPB with a 57.8 percent groundball rate. Kay posted a 5.59 ERA, 1.61 WHIP and 88:47 K:BB across 85.1 frames at the big-league level from 2019-2023. He'll slide into Chicago's rotation in 2026.
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Athletics' Anthony Kay: Cast off 40-man roster
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Oakland outrighted Kay to Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday.
The Athletics scooped Kay off waivers from the Mets on Oct. 24, but his stay on the 40-man roster didn't last long. The 28-year-old lefty has some level of pedigree to his name as a 2016 first-round pick, but he's moved into a relief role at this stage of his career and owns a pedestrian 5.59 ERA over 85.1 career innings in the majors.
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Athletics' Anthony Kay: Claimed by Oakland
Rotowire
Oakland claimed Kay off waivers from the Mets on Tuesday.
Kay was pushed off the Mets' 40-man roster last week after struggling to a 6.14 ERA and 11:9 K:BB over 14.2 major-league innings in 2023. The 28-year-old left-hander will look to earn a spot in the Athletics' bullpen next spring.
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Mets' Anthony Kay: Summoned to majors
Rotowire
Kay was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday.
Kay was claimed off waivers from the Cubs earlier this month as he returned to his original organization. He tossed 1.2 scoreless frames with two strikeouts in a relief appearance versus the Phillies on Sunday.
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Mets' Anthony Kay: Claimed by Mets
Rotowire
The Mets claimed Kay off waivers from the Cubs on Thursday and optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse.
Kay was designated for assignment by the Cubs on Monday, having allowed eight earned runs on 12 hits and eight walks through 11.1 major-league innings this season. A first-round draft pick of the Mets back in 2016, the 28-year-old left-hander returns as organizational bullpen depth.
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Cubs' Anthony Kay: Designated for assignment
Rotowire
Kay was designated for assignment Monday.
Kay was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on Sept. 1, and he wound up losing his spot on the 40-man roster a few days later. It remains to be seen if he will remain with the Cubs or head elsewhere.
