Marsh mystifies, Massey mashes, season series secured 7-1

In an evening with many dogs in attendance at Guaranteed Rate Field, Kansas City had a strong game on both sides of the ball to take down Chicago 7-1.

After both teams botched scoring opportunities in the first inning, Michael Massey got the scoring started with a two-run shot in the second. The homer came on a meatball of a heater and it was Massey’s second in as many days. Meanwhile, Steven Cruz looked sharp in his stint as an opener. Working with a fastball at 98 and finishing batters with a wipeout slider, Cruz worked around a couple knocks to post two scoreless innings with three punchouts.

Offenses were quiet for quite some time after that. Alec Marsh took over on the mound to start the third inning and picked up right where Cruz left off. Leaning heavily on his fastball and sweeper, he carved through the White Sox lineup in one of his best outings of the season. Meanwhile, Mike Clevinger has had a tough time missing bats this season, but you wouldn’t know that based on his outing tonight. He attacked the zone with all four of his pitches, punching out seven Royals with Massey’s homer being the only blemish.

Clevinger gave way to Aaron Bummer in the bullpen in the seventh and the Royals struck. After a Massey strikeout, the inning went HBP, stolen base (originally called out, but a nifty slide from Drew Waters got him in safely and overturned on replay), walk, single, walk, sac fly, single. By the end, it was 5-0. There was some luck, as the first single was a grounder off Nick Loftin that just barely squeezed through the 5-6 hole. The last single was a doinker off the bat of Salvador Perez on a pitch well off the plate.

Chicago finally broke through in the seventh on an unfortunate sequence. Yoán Moncada led off the inning with a double. Andrew Vaughn hit a tapper down the third base line that Maikel Garcia really couldn’t do anything with. Then Yasmani Grandal hit a squibber to Bobby Witt Jr. that he threw into right field trying to turn a double play. A run scored on the play and, with runners on the corners and nobody out, the White Sox suddenly had life. Marsh locked in and struck out Gavin Sheets for a big first out. James McArthur entered in relief and promptly coaxed a double play from Elvis Andrus to end the inning.

From there, a leaky Royals bullpen managed to hold the line while the offense tacked on a couple insurance runs in the top of the ninth. McArthur and Tucker Davidson combined to finish off the Sox and secure a season series victory with a 7-1 win.

The win improves the Royals to 45-101. Kansas City will get Thursday off before welcoming the Houston Astros to town for a three-game set.

Alec Marsh: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 0 HR

Mike Clevinger: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR

Nick Loftin: 2-2, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI

Yasmani Grandal: 1-2, RBI, BB