The Kansas City Royals offensive struggles against the Chicago White Sox continued on Saturday, as Kansas City fell 3-2 at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals jumped on the board first with a two-out rally in the second inning. Miguel Tejada hit a single to right field, then Mike Moustakas roped a 3-2 slider for a double to right-center field. Jeff Francoeur struck out swinging against the lefty Jose Quintana to end the inning.
Chicago captured the lead in the fourth inning. Wade Davis walked Adam Dunn to start the inning, then surrendered back-to-back singles to Paul Konerko and Connor Gillaspie to score Dunn. Neither ball was particularly well hit, but both were hit back up the middle.
Davis forced Dayan Viciedo to ground into a 5-3 double play, which left Gillaspie at second with two outs. Jeff Keppinger then looped a single in front of Francoeur to drive in Gillaspie and give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.
Davis did not allow any more runs after the fourth inning. The right-hander tossed seven innings, allowing the two runs on eight hits. Davis walked two, but struck out six White Sox. Big Trade Wade continues to look more efficient in the rotation, throwing 107 pitches total, 69 for strikes. Allowing ten baserunners is not ideal, but only surrendering one extra base hit and striking out six will help limit runs.
The Royals scored their second run against Quintana in the sixth inning. Alcides Escobar led off the inning with a groundball double down the left field line, then Eric Hosmer moved Escobar to third with a groundout to second base. Salvador Perez followed with a single to left field, driving in Escobar.
Billy Butler drew a walk, putting two on with one out. Robin Ventura removed Quintana from the game, bringing in Matt Lindstrom to work out of the jam. Lindstrom forced Lorenzo Cain to ground into a double play, ending the threat.
Overall, the offense did not look impressive. The Royals mustered five hits and one walk against Quintana over 5 1/3 innings. Quintana struck out four Royals, including Frenchy twice. Lindstrom recorded the last two outs in the sixth, and tossed a scoreless seventh inning as well.
The White Sox tried to give the Royals a free run in the eighth inning. With one out, Hosmer hit a deep flyball to right-center field, but it had enough loft for either Rios or Alejandro De Aza to catch the ball. Rios was closer, but he also seemed to think De Aza was going to call him off. The ball fell between the two outfielders, and Hosmer ended up at third base.
Perez then hit an infield popout against Jesse Crain for the second out of the inning. Butler earned his second walk of the game following the Perez popout, but fouled off some hittable pitches in the at-bat. Cain struck out on a curveball to end the threat.
Tim Collins threw a scoreless eighth inning in relief of Davis. Aaron Crow relieved Collins to start the ninth inning. Viciedo hit a single to start the inning, and Jordan Danks replaced Viciedo as a pinch-runner. Keppinger then drew his fifth walk of the season against Crow, putting two on and none out.
Yost removed Crow following the walk, bringing in Greg Holland. Holland faced pinch-hitter Gordan Beckham, who hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, advancing Danks to third. De Aza followed with a sharp flyball to rightfield. It would have taken a perfect throw from Francoeur to get Danks at the plate, but the rightfielder threw the ball too high, giving De Aza the go-ahead RBI. Holland struck out Alexi Ramirez to end the ninth, but the damage was done.
Addison Reed tossed a perfect ninth to earn the save and give the Royals their fourth straight loss. The Royals have played eight games against the White Sox this season, and only scored 17 runs against their AL Central Opponent.