White Sox down Royals, 7-4

If their performance against the Royals this year is any indication, the Chicago White Sox are going to be a big, big nuisance in the AL Central for quite awhile.

The White Sox’ offense continued to mash, something they’ve done all year, and they beat the Royals 7-4 on Friday night. They are now 7-1 against the Royals this year, including a 5-0 mark at Kauffman Stadium.

Brady Singer got knocked around to the tune of 10 hits and five runs in 5.2 innings, but considering what the White Sox are doing to pitchers these days, that’s pretty much par for the course. Weirdly, the only player that kept the Royals in the game on offense was Adalberto Mondesi, who nearly doubled his RBI total on the year with two clutch, run-scoring hits.

Down 2-0 in the second, Mondesi socked an RBI single into right field to score Alex Gordon, who walked twice on the night. After Chicago got the run back, newcomer Edward Olivares plated a run on a fielder’s choice, and then Mondesi reached on an infield single to plate Gordon and tie the score 3-3.

But after getting the game tied, Singer gave up a couple more runs, the White Sox padded their lead against the bullpen, and despite getting a run back in the ninth and bringing the tying run to the plate, the Royals’ offense was never able to make up the damage.

Chicago is scary, man. This is a young team that is absolutely crushing the baseball. Jose Abreu has blossomed into one of the best hitters in the AL. Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, and Luis Robert are absolute phenoms. All Edward Encarnacion has ever done against the Royals is drive in runs. The White Sox, now 24-15, will be an absolutely brutal out for whoever they draw in the playoffs. They can definitely make a deep postseason run.

Singer took the loss to drop him to 1-4. His ERA is now at 5.58. It might be a good time to send him to the minors for a bit to save this year from counting on his service time clock.

Adalberto Mondesi and Alex Gordon was the bright spots for the Royals tonight. Mondesi has had a horrible season in every way, and he managed to get three hits, two of which were run-producing. He also stole two bases. Hilariously, Adalberto Mondesi and his .209 OBP are leading all of baseball with 10 stolen bases.

Gordon reached base four times, and his only out was a smashed lineout to the center field wall. We’re probably in the final month of Alex Gordon’s Royals’ career, so seeing him heat up over the last week has been really good to see.

Another note on this game: Whit Merrifield’s slump continued, despite opening the night with a hit. Now hitting .261 on the year, his average was at .301 last Wednesday after beating the Cardinals in St. Louis. He’s since gone 3 for 33. He came up with the bases loaded in the eighth and two outs, representing the tying run, and struck out on a slider that was way, way outside. Yuck.

The Royals are 14-25. There are 21 games left on the year. Their winning percentage (.359) would put them on pace for a 58-104 season. They are bad.

Tomorrow: the Royals will look to get their first win of the year against the White Sox at home when they send Kris Bubic to the hill against ace Lucas Giolito. The first pitch is at 6:05 pm.