Kansas City Royals win on Alex Gordon walk-off single

Alex Gordon picked up another walk-off hit this season, as he cracked a bases loaded single in the bottom of the tenth to give the Kansas City Royals a 6-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

The White Sox jumped on the scoreboard first. They loaded the bases against Wade Davis with one out in the third. They were only able to get one run in the inning, coming on an Alex Rios fielder’s choice, which was followed by an Adam Dunn popout.

Davis held Chicago scoreless after the third. The right-hander labored through six innings, as surrendered five hits and walked three. Davis did record five strikeouts, many of them in key situations with runners on. This start reminded me of his second start this season against the Minnesota Twins. He did a good job limiting runs, but it’s not a visually pleasing experience.

The Royals took the lead with three runs in the fifth inning. Mike Moustakas hit a one-out single, which Jeff Francouer followed with a double. Jose Quintana, who had tossed four no-hit innings before the fifth, pitched around Salvador Perez for a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Miguel Tejada.

Tejada hit a soft line-drive, but it found a hole between Alexei Ramirez and Conor Gillaspie to drive in Moustakas. Alex Gordon then hit a perfect double play ball, but Jeff Keppinger booted it, pushing Francoeur across the plate and extending the inning. Alcides Escobar then hit an rbi-single, driving in Perez.

Billy Butler followed Escobar with a hard-hit line drive, but it was hit right at Alexi Ramirez for the second out. Eric Hosmer then hit a shallow fly-ball to end the inning.

Tim Collins relieved Davis to start the seventh inning, but failed to record a single out. Hector Gimenez led off the inning with a single past Tejada, which would have likely been stopped by a better defensive second baseman. DeWayne Wise then hit a single, and Alejandro De Aza followed Wise with a deep double to left-field, scoring both runners.

Aaron Crow then relieved Collins, and forced Jeff Keppinger to groundout to Tejada. The groundout allowed De Aza to advance to third, and he would score on a wild pitch. Alex Rios then smacked a solo home-run, giving the White Sox a 5-3 lead.

Kansas City threatened to score in the seventh. Tejeda reached with a second seeing-eye single and Escobar smacked a hit of his own. Butler proceeded to hit into tough luck for the second time with runners on base, hitting a hard groundball right at Keppinger for a double-play.

Luke Hochevar pitched two perfect innings of relief. That put the Royals down two heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Perez led off the ninth inning with a walk against Addison Reed, bringing the tying run to the plate with three outs left. Chris Getz then came in as a pinch-runner for Perez, and George Kottaras pinch-hit for Tejeada. Kottaras also worked a walk against the closer, bringing Gordon to the plate with two runners on.

Gordon then hit a flyout for the first out, and Escobar followed Gordon with a flyout of his own. That brought Billy Butler to the plate with two outs.

Butler came through with a clutch double to right-center field on a 3-2 pitch, driving in Getz and Kotarras to tie the game. Eric Hosmer then hit a shallow line drive to left field, but De Aza made a tough catch to save a run and force the game into extra innings.

Greg Holland threw a perfect top of the tenth inning, giving the Royals a chance to win the game in the bottom of the tenth.

Brian Omogrosso came in to pitch the top of the tenth for Chicago. He allowed a lead-off single and a stolen base to Cain, but forced a Moustakas strikeout and a Francoeur groundout.

With two outs and one runner on second, White Sox manger Robin Ventura decided his best option was to INTENTIONALLY WALK CHRIS GETZ to bring Kotarras to the plate. It was a truly mind-boggling decision, and it promptly backfired.

Kotarras then promptly drew his second walk of the game, bringing up Gordon to the plate with the bases loaded. Gordon then crushed a hit that would have cleared the bases, but only one run was necessary.