Royals Sweep White Sox With 5-4 Win

Duffy struggled but Kris Medlen came in to hold the fort with some quality middle relief as the Royals were able to complete the sweep against the White Sox.

The Royals drew blood in the bottom of the first inning when Alcides Escobar drew a walk and Eric Hosmer was later able to double him home. Kendrys Morales then hit a home run to right center field to give the Royals an early 3-0 lead.

Danny Duffy looked sharp in the first two innings of the game but ran into trouble in the third when he walked leadoff batter Carlos Sanchez before hitting Tyler Flowers. Gordon Beckham then singled to center to score one. Danny proceeded to throw a wild pitch to advance the runners before Alexei Ramirez came to the plate and singled to score both runners and tie the game.

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The Royals were able to regain the lead in the fifth inning when Jarrod Dyson singled to lead things off before an Escobar sacrifice bunt moved him to second. Ben Zobrist stepped to the plate and produced a single to score Dyson and push the score to 4-3.

The score remained that way until the top of the eighth inning when Adam Eaton led off with a double before moving to third on Alexei Ramirez’s groundout to Escobar. Moose then made a spectacular play on a sharply hit ground ball from Jose Abreu that held Eaton at third and gave the Royals their second out. Unfortunately, Melky Cabrera was able to deliver with a two-out single to tie the game once again at 4-4.

The Royals came right back, however, when Alex Rios hit a one-out single and moved to third on Paulo Orlando‘s follow-up ground rule double. Omar Infante then hit a slow bouncing ball to Abreu who came home with it but the throw was high and the tag was late and Alex Rios slid into home with what would turn out to be the winning run as Ryan Madson came in to close out the game with Wade Davis and Greg Holland both unavailable and Kelvin Herrera having just pitched the eighth inning. Despite some recent difficulties, Madson performed admirably and struck out two in the ninth on his way to recording his second save as the Royals took the game 5-4

The Royals are now 11.5 games up in the A.L. Central and will host the Detroit Tigers for a three-game series beginning tomorrow evening.