The White Sox took their time, but they got around to getting to Jordan Lyles.
That's something they couldn't quite claim when they faced him on May 9, because while they hung a loss on him, he managed to throw the rare complete game in defeat.
The script looked the same this afternoon until the sixth inning. The White Sox loaded the bases on two walks around another catcher interference on Luis Robert Jr. to chase Lyles from the game with nobody out in the sixth inning, and then Jake Burger unloaded them with a double to the right-center gap off Jose Cuas to effectively put the game out of reach.
Lyles fell to 0-8 on the year, and the Sox raised his ERA this time (7.14 to 7.15).
Lucas Giolito faced similar threats over the course of his six innings, but the only damage he suffered was a Salvador Perez solo shot on a hanging slider in the first inning. Perez went 3-for-3 off Giolito, as he seemed to drag all of Giolito's pitches back toward the center of the zone, but the White Sox's run-prevention unit suppressed everybody else.
The defense stepped up early. Seby Zavala cut down Bobby Witt Jr. at second base on a SHOTHO preceding Perez's first-inning homer, Yoán Moncada and Andrew Vaughn executed a 5-3-5 double play when Nick Pratto tried to advance to third on Moncada's long throw across the diamond in the second, and Adam Haseley laid out for a diving catch on Michael Massey, showing what the Sox have been missing when they've played first basemen in right field all this time.
Giolito had to step up later. He got tangled in some long at-bats and deep counts with runners on, but he never caved, twice stranding runner on third with inning-ending strikeouts.
Pedro Grifol went with a quicker hook than he'd shown over the past week, lifting Giolito after six innings and 89 pitches. He threw most of those pitches with a one-run lead. The Sox scored two quick runs off Lyles in the first on three straight one-out hits -- an Andrew Benintendi single, a bloop double inside the left-field line by Luis Robert Jr., and a two-run single by Yoán Moncada. Lyles then retired the next 10 batters to make a game of it.
The Sox scored three after Giolito threw his final pitch, and the long rest might've contributed to the decision to go to the bullpen, too.
Garrett Crochet wobbled in his first appearance protecting a lead, but Reynaldo López stranded two runners to close out the seventh, while Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman pitched a perfect eighth and ninth.
Bullet points:
*Robert recorded an outfield assist at second base on what should've been a bloop single by Edward Olivares in the seventh, because Freddy Fermin thought Robert was going to track it down and initially retreated to first. That gave López some footing when the bases should've been loaded with one out.
*Tim Anderson went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and three ground balls, two of which turned into double plays. He shouldn't be a fixture in the leadoff spot while his knee is bothering him.
*The Royals were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
