Royals ride Cain, Hosmer homers to 7-5 victory over White Sox

The White Sox were unhappy about the lesson in baseball they received from the Royals on Opening Day. The Royals really hammered in the lesson, which was that they are now apparently good at baseball. The White Sox took matters into their own hands.

Mike Moustakas, confident with the confidence that Ned Yost confidenced into his confidence dome by putting him 2nd in the lineup, cracked a line drive off a low and away breaking pitch on a 2-2 count. If you read the gamethread, you will have seen that Quintana loves the low and away curve with two strikes. Moustakas put a decent swing on it. It looked....easy. Nevertheless, Adam Eaton took a miserable route to the ball. Moustakas had a double. The White Sox then began their retaliation plans by plunking Lorenzo Cain. With two men on, Kendrys Morales crushed a 2-2 pitch into left field, scoring Moustakas. 1-0 Royals.

Not to be outdone in baseball retaliation (I've now basically lost track of who's instigating what), Duffy threw a pitch behind Adam LaRoche's head in the 2nd inning. Both benches were warned as best I could tell. LaRoche, unfortunately, doubled and was followed by a Gordon Beckham single. Duffy left a fat fastball over the middle of the plate to the next batter, Tyler Flowers, who proceeded to deposit the pitch behind the left field wall. 3-1 White Sox.

Nothing happened until the bottom of the 3rd. Moustakas was hit by a pitch; reaching base is awesome, but Quintana remained in the game despite the warnings issued earlier. Cain singled in the next plate appearance, leaving two men on base for Eric Hosmer. Hosmer hit a freakin' screamer of a line drive that cleared the fence in right-center field. 4-3 Royals.

The vaunted Royals defense wasn't quite in mid-season form in the 4th inning. Avisail Garcia led off with a double. After getting a popup and a strikeout, Duffy allowed a soft but short liner to Gordon Beckham. It looked to me like Lorenzo Cain was not only playing shallow but was also shaded toward right field. This is where the "liner" went. Cain made a diving effort but just missed making the play. However, Cain doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of making that play if he wasn't shallow and shaded to right. Strong defensive positioning or luck? I'd hope for the former given Rusty Kuntz's reputation. 4-4 tie ballgame.

Salvador Perez led off the next inning with a single, and Escobar moved him to 3rd with another single. After Escobar stole second, Moustakas pulled a weak grounder to first base. The infield was in, so I'm not sure why Perez was going. He was out by a significant margin. Kind of a wasted opportunity.

A string of singles by Hosmer, Alex Rios, and Perez led to another Royals run in the bottom of the 5th. The White Sox let Perez steal second, but Omar Infante struck out. Infante had another bad game. Another (partially) wasted scoring opportunity. 5-4 Royals.

The top of the 6th saw the end of Duffy. After a double and a single, Duffy was pulled for Jason Frasor. Frasor induced a sac fly and two strikeouts, which was an admirable performance, but one run still scored. 5-5 tie ballgame. Duffy ended his night with 5 innings, 8 hits, 5 runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 1 home run given up. Quintana finished with a very similar line: 5 innings, 9 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, and 1 home run given up.

The bullpen for the White Sox was locking it down until the bottom of the 8th. Escobar led off the inning with a single. Moustakas flied out, but then Cain continued the barrage of offense by blasting a ball over the left field fence. Cain obliterated that ball. Seriously. That ball's existence is recorded only in the annals of history, for it disintegrated into the void after Cain mutilated it.

The HDH trio finished off the game after Frasor. Also, Perez threw out 2 baserunners trying to steal second. Don't run on Perez. The Royals finished with 14 hits. This team is downright scary when big offense is part of the plan. All is right with the world. Royals win 7-5.