The Kansas City Royals were limited to one hit in the first seven innings, but their bats caught fire against the Chicago White Sox bullpen, roaring from behind to take a 5-4 win Tuesday, Aug. 26 at Rate Field.
Martin Pérez kept the Royals off the board during his seven-inning start, striking out five while giving the White Sox the chance to take the final series of the year against a Royals squad they had only been able to beat in the South Side the past two years. Chicago’s offense did their bit early on, as Colson Montgomery connected for a solo home run with one out in the second to put the Sox on the board. They would load the bases in the sixth with no one out, resulting in Kyle Teel singling home Brooks Baldwin. Two pitches later, Lenyn Sosa would get an RBI single off John Schreiber. Schreiber would get the next two batters out, but a wild pitch would score Chicago’s final run.
The Royals only had two base runners heading into the eighth inning, one night after the White Sox had shut them out. After a pop out to lead the inning, the Royals’ bats would finally click. After singles from Jonathan India and Adam Frazier, reliever Jordan Leasure walked Kyle Isbel to load the bases. Reliever Grant Taylor then came in, only to give up a two-run RBI single to Maikel Garcia. The offense continued into the ninth, when Vinnie Pasquantino and Mike Yastrzemski singled, followed by India. Michael Massey singled in a pair of runs off Tyler Alexander to tie the game, and after Frazier was hit by a pitch, Isbel delivered the game-winning single to center field. Carlos Estévez struck out two and also secured a groundout to claim his league-leading 35th save of the year.
Sam Long claimed the win for pitching a scoreless eighth, allowing one hit. Michael Lorenzen allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk, striking out six across five innings. While Alexander was charged with the blown save, all three runs in the ninth were tagged onto Taylor, who took the loss by allowing four hits.
The Royals improve to 68-65, three games behind Seattle for the third wild card spot and nine-and-a-half behind Detroit for the AL Central lead. Ryan Bergert will get the start Wednesday evening for the Royals’ final matchup against the White Sox of the season. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m., with pregame beginning at 6 p.m. on KMMO-FM 102.9.