Royals walk-off Sox in the 10th

The Royals overcame early blunders against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night and managed to walk-off the AL Central front-runners in extra innings 3-2. It was Kansas City’s 44th win of the season and first walk-off since July 6th.

Following his excellent start against Detroit, Kris Bubic toed the rubber and looked to repeat that same success. Though his offense was hitless through the first four innings, the left-hander countered with four shutout innings of his own. In the top of the fourth, Bubic struck out Eloy Jiménez and Yoan Moncada on change-ups to strand a runner at third base.

In the top of the fifth, however, Bubic ran into problems. After back-to-back singles, Danny Medick rolled an RBI-single to center field which scored two. The second run came home on a defensive miscue when the Royals left home plate vacant while chasing down Mendick between first and second. In the bottom half of the frame, Ryan O’Hearn finally ended Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter with a 45 mph infield single.

Bubic managed to grind through 6+ innings and allowed just two runs on on five hits with three strikeouts. Domingo Tapia came on in relief and punched out two more in a scoreless outing.

In the home half of the seventh, Kansas City finally caused a ruckus off of Giolito. To open the inning, Salvador Perez doubled on a ball that should’ve been caught by Leury Garcia in right field and Jorge Soler missed a home run by inches to drive in Perez — cutting the lead in half. However, with Soler at third base and nobody out, the Royals couldn’t bring him home.

All the frustration from the first eight innings, though, were washed away in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs to go, Salvador Perez came to the plate and faced old friend Liam Hendriks. Hendriks, who came in leading the American League in saves, made a mistake in the zone and Perez blasted it over the fountains in left-center field.

In extra innings, Scott Barlow came on and kept the White Sox scoreless with two strikeouts. In the bottom of the tenth, Michael A. Taylor picked up Hunter Dozier, who failed to drive in a runner at third with one out, and singled up the middle to walk-it off.

The Royals, 44-56, will finish up their four-game set against the White Sox tomorrow night. Carlos Hernandez will square off with Carlos Rodon. First pitch is slated for 1:10 p.m.