Third to first

By Scott Merkin

April 6, 2014

• When Jose Abreu, Dayan Viciedo, Alexei Ramirez and Adrian Nieto started in Saturday's loss for the White Sox, it marked the first time four Cuban-born players were in the same starting lineup since the Cleveland Indians on April 8, 1969, per STATS LLC. Jose Cardenal, Joe Azcue, Zolio Versailes and Luis Tiant played for the Indians during a 6-2 loss at Detroit on that Opening Day. Abreu and Azcue both are from Cienfuegos, Cuba.

• Entering Sunday's series finale, 20 of the previous 27 games between the White Sox and Royals were decided by two runs or fewer, dating to 2012.

• Micah Johnson had two hits in Double-A Birmingham's 14-7 loss to Montgomery on Saturday night, giving the second baseman six hits in three games. Courtney Hawkins homered for the second time for Class A Advanced Winston-Salem, while Tim Anderson knocked out three hits, including a double and a triple. Hawkins (2012) and Anderson (2013) are the White Sox previous two top picks in the First-Year Player Draft.

Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Merk's Works, and follow him on Twitter @scottmerkin.