Bruce Chen’s pitching helps Kansas City Royals defeat Chicago White Sox 4-1 – MLB Update
The Kansas City Royals’ veteran Bruce Chen threw six strong innings to beat the Chicago White Sox 4-1 at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday, July 6.
It was the individual performance of Chen which was key in the brilliant victory for the Royals. Kansas City, it is important to mention had lost the first game by 5-4, but they staged a remarkable comeback with two consecutive victories to also win the
series.
The Royals commenced Wednesday’s game with renewed gusto, as their hitters charged the White Sox pitcher Edwin Jackson from the start. Alex Gordon hit and drove in a run in the very first inning to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Chen, emboldened by the relatively good start of the offence, threw strong innings to maintain a firm grip on the game. As his first inning remained scoreless, Eric Hosmer drove in the second run for the Royals in the second inning.
"I made good pitches when I needed to. I didn't have a very high pitch count, so that helped me," Chen said. "I kept making pitches and got out of that situation with a win, so that was good for us. ... I just gave everything I had."
Jeff Francoeur singled to centre enabling Alex Gordon to score the third run for the Royals, having a safe 3-0 lead now by the end of fourth inning. Edwin Jackson gave up two hits in the inning and failed to stop the flow of runs.
Much that Chen did with his virtually unplayable pitches as Francoeur had the second RBI of the game in the sixth inning to take up the lead to 4-0. However, Francoeur was all praise for Chen.
"Bruce is that pitcher that I'm sure they're kicking themselves over there for losing to because his stuff isn't going to overwhelm you, he makes you put the ball in play," he said.
Adam Dunn was the only Chicago hitter to earn a single in Chen’s sixth inning, bringing the lead down to 4-1.
Greg Holland was called in as reliever for the Royals when the lead stood at 4-1. His choice was not wrong as he pitched a shut-out inning to keep the Royals floating.
Joakim Soria turned out to be the perfect finisher for the Royals with his impeccable pitches in the 9th to throw another shut-out inning, enabling the Royals’ victory and a 2-1 sweep in the series.
The Royals put in a good performance as they managed to restrict Chicago’s offence. The White Sox will be looking to improve their performance and try to get their offence to spark and provide some much needed runs to support their pitching line-up.
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