Royals Come Back in Chicago to Clinch Series Over White Sox
The Royals won their AL Central series against the White Sox with a 4-3 win at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday evening. However, despite Chicago letting go of players leading up to and at the trade deadline, which lapsed shortly before first pitch, it took an eighth-inning rally for Kansas City to close the door on the home team's hopes of evening the series.
Right-hander Michael Wacha got the start on the South Side, and he delivered, serving up seven innings of two-run baseball. The White Sox (27-83) have now lost 16 consecutive games after becoming the first team in American League history to have two separate streaks of 14 defeats or more in the same season on Sunday. Highly touted prospect Jonathan Cannon was brilliant in his own right for Chicago, outdueling Wacha with seven innings of his own and only one run.
The Sox got on the board first when shortstop Nicky Lopez tripled and subsequently scored on a wild pitch. The Royals (59-49) got started in the third inning with a solo home run by designated hitter Michael Massey, who remained in the lineup despite Adam Frazier manning second base. White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn took the lead back for his team with a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth.
That was all in the scoring column until the eighth, when Kansas City stormed back against debuting reliever Fraser Ellard and teammate Justin Anderson. The lefty Ellard received as rude an awakening as he might've pictured upon being called up from Triple-A Charlotte earlier Tuesday. He took the loss, going just a third of an inning. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. tied the game at two apiece with an RBI single, scoring Maikel Garcia. By then Anderson was pitching, but he had inherited Ellard's mess, which started with a leadoff walk and a wild pitch.
First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino did the rest, singling to left field and bringing home two runs. The White Sox got one of the two runs back when Lopez hit a leadoff single in the home half and went on to score his second run of the game. Chicago could draw no closer, going down in order against Kansas City's Sam Long in the ninth to end it.
One of the players acquired by the Royals on deadline day was White Sox shortstop Paul DeJong, who has 18 home runs this season. Though (as one might imagine) he was available Tuesday, he did not come in off the bench to see action against his old team. The earliest he can now make his Royals debut, and join the list of players to play for multiple teams in the same division during one season, is during Wednesday's series finale. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. CT.
