Lynch dominates in 2-1 win over the White Sox

Following their dramatic win on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, the Royals found a way to steal one from the White Sox on Monday night, 2-1. It marked the club’s 19th road win of the 2022 campaign.

In his first start since July 16th, Daniel Lynch shoved. To begin his outing, the 25-year-old struck out five of the first nine Chicago hitters. Additionally, he allowed just one single to Andrew Vaughn through the first three frames.

In the top of the fourth, Lynch gained some run support by way of the long ball. After clubbing two home runs in his first series back against the Yankees, Salvador Perez continued his powerful stretch with a solo homer on Monday. On a 2-1 count, Perez obliterated a slider 452 feet from home plate and over the ivy in center field. The titanic blast gave Perez his third home run in his last four games.

Back on the mound, Lynch didn’t skip a beat. He cruised through five shutout innings and punched out seven. Of the six hits he allowed, five of them were singles. Whit Merrifield, in what could’ve been his final game as a member of the Royals, provided the left-hander with insurance in the sixth on another solo shot to make it 2-0.

Lynch attempted to work through the sixth inning, but started to get barreled. Seeing that he was running out of gas, Mike Matheny elected to go to his bullpen and bring in Wyatt Mills. Fortunately for Lynch, Mills recorded the final two outs of the inning and stranded a runner at third.

Kansas City’s bullpen couldn’t keep the White Sox’s offense scoreless, though. In the bottom of the seventh, Mills stayed in and allowed two soft singles to open up the frame. Dylan Coleman, motivated by his poor outing on Sunday, managed to tip-toe out of that potential disaster — surrendering just one run and maintaining a 2-1 lead. If it wasn’t for the spectacular defense of Merrifield, things could’ve spiraled in a different direction.

With a taxed bullpen, Matheny asked Scott Barlow to record a six-out save. Despite bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth, Barlow nailed it down and secured his 17th save of the year.

The Royals, 41-62, will go for a series win tomorrow night. Brad Keller will duel with Lucas Giolito. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. CT.