The White Sox offense put up five runs early and five runs late. White Sox pitchers made it uncomfortably close both times.
Nevertheless, they improved to 12-0 against left-handed starters while snapping a two-game mini-skid with Dylan Cease on the mound, so it's hard to be picky.
The run prevention might not have been optimized, but the Sox maximized their scoring opportunities. Twice they had the bases loaded with fewer than two outs, and twice they got at least a slam's worth. The Sox were 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position, which generally gets the job done.
If there was only one regret, the White Sox could have knocked out Danny Duffy in the second inning. Edwin Encarnación hit a solo shot to start it, and the ninth batter of the inning, José Abreu hit a two-run double. Nick Capra tried to make it three with Yasmani Grandal, but a good relay cut him down at the plate by a step.
It was a good send with two outs, but there was a chance that Mike Matheny would've lifted Duffy before he faced Encarnación again. Duffy instead got a reprieve, and he used it to grunt his way through six, allowing only a Tim Anderson solo shot the rest of the way.
He actually ended up outlasting Dylan Cease. Cease allowed a Hunter Dozier solo shot in the first, but ended up keeping the Royals off the board until the sixth rolled around. It wasn't the prettiest effort -- only one strikeout and seven swinging strikes on 96 pitches -- but he cut down on the walks and made the Royals hit their way aboard, and they couldn't muster a threat soon enough.
With a little better luck on two balls hit to Luis Robert territory, he might've thrown a quality start. Instead, one rattled off the wall in center before finding Robert's glove for a leadoff double, and another was just out of the range of a dive in right center for another two-bagger. Instead of two outs and nobody on, he had to settle for five-plus.
Matt Foster came in and took some time finding his groove, allowing a single and a two-run double that made it a 6-4 game with still nobody out. For some reason Adalberto Mondesi dropped a sac bunt, and while it advanced the runner to third, it gave Foster some footing. He responded by striking out Ryan McBroom and getting Whit Merrifield to pop out.
The Royals never brought the tying run to the plate again, despite some leaky work from the low-leverage White Sox. Another five-run explosion against the Royals bullpen, punctuated by a 458-foot, 113-mph homer from Robert, simply provided too big of a cushion.
While Duffy lasted six innings, the second crooked number made Matheny use two relievers in the seventh, and four relievers overall. The Sox could've done more damage, but at least for one night, they did plenty.
Bullet points:
*Tim Anderson raised his average to .347 and his OPS to .999 by going 3-for-4 with a walk. He now qualifies for a batting title, and he'd win his second if the season ended today. His only flaw was an error on a fairly routine grounder by Nicky Lopez, but Cease pitched around it.
*Yasmani Grandal also reached base four times from the third spot.
*Encarnación homered on a 91-mph Duffy fastball down the middle, so while he might've been inspired by Josh's post, he didn't exactly refute the point about above-average velocity.
*Eloy Jiménez made a nice leaping catch on a line drive to the warning track. There's no joke here -- good read, good line, good timing.
*Bernardo Flores Jr. gave up two runs in his MLB debut, but he pitched the way you want to see a rookie pitch in the eighth inning with a seven-run lead -- making the Royals do something with strikes.
*Conversely, Steve Cishek loaded the bases on a single and two walks to put the tying run on deck, but he got a strikeout, then lucked out on a bang-bang play at first that maybe shouldn't have held up under review to end it.
*The Indians and Twins were both idle, so the Sox are now a half-game behind the former and a game up on the latter.
