Royals take first L of 2019 to White Sox

The 162-0 dream is dead.

Chicago beat Kansas City, 6-3, at Kauffman Stadium, to give the Royals their first loss of the season. Lucas Giolito continued to own Kansas City despite being brutally terrible against everyone else.

But hey, it’s a series win, right? The Royals didn’t get one of those until May 6 last year, and it took them just two games in 2019 to get a series dub. We’ll take it.

Jorge Lopez matched Giolito for awhile, but Chicago finally broke through in the fourth inning when Jose Abreu and Yonder Alonso hit back-to-back homers. The 2-0 score held until the sixth, when Lopez finally unraveled. He opened the sixth by giving up a single, a double, and a walk to load the bases with nobody out, so he was pulled for Tim Hill.

Hill decided to keep the early season bullpen woes alive and well by walking the first two men he faced, bringing in a third and fourth run for the White Sox. An inning that could have been worse ended with a 4-0 score, but come on. Is it so hard for this team to find a single reliever, besides Cy Young closer candidate Ian Kennedy of course, that can get people out?

I believe it was @TJFSports on Twitter that said that relievers coming in and immediately walking two hitters in a row should be an insta-demotion. It makes sense to me.

Maybe that guy will be Kyle Zimmer! Seven years after being drafted and briefly being unemployed, Zimmer came in and made his MLB debut in the eighth inning. He struck out two and allowed only one baserunner in his first-ever inning of MLB-level action. It was awesome to see him in the big leagues after everything he’s gone through. He’s definitely your highest-ceiling reliever, and I anticipate him being the team’s closer at some point this year.

After Chicago got two more runs in the seventh, they led 6-0, and Giolito was working on a no-hitter. It wasn’t until Alex Gordon stepped up with one gone and none on in the seventh that the no-hitter ended, as he banged a single back up the middle. He came home and scored on Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI double, marking the six time in just three games he’s crossed home plate. The Royals added another run on an RBI single by Lucas Duda later in the inning. 6-2.

Here is my one-paragraph, personal feelings rant: Chris Owings freaking sucks. I can’t believe the Royals are giving that scrub a roster spot. Remember how damn bad Alcides Escobar was last year? What if I told you that Chris Owings was even worse in 2018? And the Royals went out and gave him $3 million for this season! He played more innings than Hunter Dozier, Ryan O’Hearn, and Frank Schwindel this series. Shockingly, he was 0-for-10 in the series. He has no place on this roster, and my brain is going to explode watching him rack up 450 at-bats this year.

Facing former foe Kelvin Herrera, Whit Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 23 games with an infield single in the eighth inning. It is the fourth longest streak in team history.

Adalberto Mondesi hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to make it 6-3, but that’s as close as the Royals got it.

After a brutal two-games-in-two-days stretch, the Royals have earned a day off. They won’t play tomorrow, but the Twins come into Kauffman Stadium for a two-game stretch on Tuesday night. Brad Keller will start on normal rest. He will oppose infamous Royal killer Kyle Gibson.