Royals remain undefeated post-All Star Break, beat White Sox 6-1

Bobby Witt Jr. had another three hits, but did finally make an out.

For the second straight night, the Royals got things going at the plate quickly while their starter completely shut down the White Sox. Last night it was Michael Wacha pitching seven scoreless innings, tonight it was Brady Singer. Singer did give up one more walk and hit than Wacha did, but the same number of strikeouts. And seven shutout innings is always a good time.

The only inning in which Singer really struggled was the fourth. Both of the walks and one of the hits he allowed were in that inning but, as previously noted, no runs scored and it was the only time a runner got past second. The only time a runner got past first was in the seventh inning when he gave up a second single in the inning with two outs. He had the White Sox out of sync all night long.

By the time the first inning had ended, by contrast, the Royals had scored all of the runs they needed. With one out Bobby Witt Jr. singled to left. Vinnie Pasquantino sliced his own single into left. Bobby and Vinnie attempted a double steal with Salvador Perez at the plate, but Bobby was thrown out at third. It was only the second time Bobby has attempted a steal in the entire month of July, and he was thrown out both times. I’d be worried about him if he wasn’t hitting the ball like a mad person.

Salvy lined a single into right to drive in Pasquantino and then things really got going. Michael Massey tripled into the right-center gap, sending a chugging Salvy home for the second run. Hunter Renfroe followed with a double right over Andrew Benintendi’s head in left to score the third run. Drew Waters grounded out to end the inning.

In the second inning, Maikel Garcia led off and hit a double, which gives him a six-game hitting streak (out of six games started) when starting in the eighth spot. Garcia then stole third, which must have rubbed some salt in Bobby’s wounds because not only had he been thrown out the inning before, but that meant Maikel passed him for the team lead in stolen bases with 23 to Witt’s 22.

Kyle Isbel grounded out and Frazier popped out to center and it seemed like Garcia might be stranded at third, but Bobby wasn’t done with his plate-appearance streak, and whacked an RBI single to give the Royals a four-run lead, where it would stay until the eighth.

Hunter Harvey was called upon to make his Royals debut in the eighth and, frankly, it didn’t go well. He immediately gave up a double to Tommy Pham off the left-field wall. Drew Waters, who started in left tonight, didn’t field it cleanly and Pham was able to advance to third. Harvey got Benintendi to ground out without the run scoring, but then gave up a double to Luis Robert Jr., this time to right center. He struck out Andrew Vaughn, walked Eloy Jiminéz, and then struck out Brooks Baldwin to escape the inning without giving up any more runs. The pair of strikeouts were impressive and I really wouldn’t read too much into it.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Royals’ offense added on with some help from the White Sox. They brought in left-hander Tanner Banks to face Adam Frazier and the Royals countered by batting Nick Loftin. He squibbed a grounder to short but former Royal Nicky Lopez couldn’t field it cleanly. Dairon Blanco came in to pinch run. Bobby hit another single. After Vinnie struck out, Blanco was picked off, but when they attempted to make the throw to third to get him, Paul DeJong couldn’t catch the ball and so Blanco and Witt were at second and third.

Salvy was then intentionally walked, and Massey struck out on a pitch that did not appear to be a strike. Of course, there were a lot of strikes called on balls similarly outside the strike zone so that should not have been much of a surprise to him. Hunter Renfroe came up and walked on four pitches, marking the second night in a row he brought in a run by taking a free pass with the bases loaded. Then Banks walked Hampson on five pitches to bring in the final run. Garcia ran the count full, but grounded out to end the inning.

Kris Bubic pitched a scoreless ninth with a strikeout and a walk and, just like that, the Royals have won their first two games out of the All-Star Break. Beating the White Sox may not be impressive, but those wins count just the same when you’re trying to reach the post-season. For their part, at the time of writing, Cleveland and Minnesota are both losing while the Red Sox have a one-run lead over the Dodgers.

The Royals will have a chance to sweep the White Sox tomorrow. Seth Lugo will go against Drew Thorpe at 1:10 KC time for the last time against the White Sox in Kauffman this year.