Kansas City Royals defeat Chicago White Sox 2-1 – MLB Update
The Chicago White Sox failed to hold their nerves as the Kansas City Royals defeated them 2-1 on Wednesday, July 20 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Alex Gordon was the solo star whose magical hit brought the Royals a hard-fought victory not only in the game, but also in the series. His run could not have come at a more golden moment than this.
"I told Eddie I knew they were going to pitch Billy tough with splitters and sliders," Gordon said. "I told him if I get anything close to a wild pitch I'm going. Once I saw it get away from Pierzynski a little bit, I was off."
For the White Sox manager, however, it was one of the lowest moments. After winning the first game by 5-2, the White Sox could not maintain their lead and lost the second 4-2 and this game by 2-1.
"This team is one day we're good, three days we're bad," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We don't have any energy in the dugout. We're going to Cleveland and the way we're going there, good luck. We're wasting our money."
Bruce Chen, the Kansas City Royals starter, provided an ideal start to his team with a shut-out first inning. However, John Danks followed with his equally effective pitching, keeping the score tied.
It was White Sox Carlos Quentin who broke the drought of runs in the fifth inning when Chen came to pitch. Quentin homered to left to score the first run for Chicago and gave the team an opportunity to edge their way past the Royals.
But that did not materialize, as Danks was immensely successful in his seven innings that he pitched, not allowing any run. Jeff Francoeur capitalised on a wild pitch of Matt Thonton in a 3-hit one-run eighth inning.
That added a new flavour in the already exciting game and series decider. Joakim Soria pitched a shut-out 9th inning to keep the score tied followed by Chris Sale’s equally strong inning that kept the score 1-1.
Aaron Crow relieved Soria to pitch the 10th. It was a fairly good inning that he pitched followed by Chris Sale whom the White Sox decided to keep unchanged.
Sale was not effective in all the innings, as he was to commit a mistake and Billy Butler utilised that. Sale threw a wild pitch in the 11th that Butler made use of, bringing the Royals a wonderful 2-1 win in the eagerly watched game.
The Royals put in a tremendous performance as they managed to restrict the White Sox offence from scoring runs.
Tags: