14-2 since 4/20.
The Kansas City Royals once again had an outstanding night on the mound and got all the offense they needed from one swing as they defeated the Chicago White Sox 2-1 tonight at Kauffman Stadium.
The first three innings took just 38 minutes to complete. Both teams had an opportunity to do damage, with Kansas City putting runners on the corners with one out in the first and Chicago doing the same with two outs in the following inning, but Michael Wacha and Jonathan Cannon were otherwise in control. Maikel Garcia nearly went yard with two outs in the third but had to settle for a double. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a short popup to end the inning.
One hour after first pitch, Kyle Isbel hauled in an easy line drive off the bat of Jacob Amaya to complete the top of the fifth inning. Half of the game was in the books and there had been scarcely anything worth writing about. No big hits, no defensive highlights, no particularly nasty pitches, just rote baseball action. The Royals broadcast got around to talking about all the important stuff, such as Drew Butera catching the final out of the World Series, Justin Jirschele’s coaching career, and Rex Hudler surmising that there are people out there with the surname “Slop.”
Luke Maile led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. That was followed by the most interesting play of the game yet. Isbel got sawed off by a cutter in on his hands, bouncing the ball toward first base. Miguel Vargas came in to play the ball and got hit around the ankle by a big piece of Isbel’s bat. He managed to record the out 3-1 while Maile moved up to second base. He stayed on the deck but was able to remain in the game. It seemed like another opportunity to score might fizzle after Garcia grounded out, but Witt came through. On 1-0, he pulled his hands in on a sinker, yanking it out to left. It bounced off the top of the wall and into the stands for a homer to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead.
Wacha needed just 84 pitches to complete seven innings, but Matt Quatraro elected to turn to the bullpen instead of letting the veteran eat. Lucas Erceg came on to pitch the eighth. By this point, my hopes of seeing a rare sub-two hour game were already dashed, so I couldn’t be too upset when he needed 17 pitches to retire the side.
Carlos Estévez was summoned for the ninth. He got in trouble right away when Vargas roped a gapper for a leadoff double on the first pitch. Luis Robert Jr. followed by yanking one down the left field line to score Vargas, but Cavan Biggio made a heads up play by throwing to second to hold Robert to a single. Matt Thaiss followed with a single and suddenly the go-ahead run was on base. Estévez struck out Andrew Vaughn for the first out before getting a 6-4 fielder’s choice for the second. That brought up Josh Rojas with the game on the line. Estévez struck him out on four pitches to secure the 2-1 victory.
The win improves the Royals to 22-16 and gives them five consecutive series victories. They will go for the mop tomorrow afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.
Michael Wacha: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 HR
Jonathan Cannon: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 HR
Bobby Witt Jr.: 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
Miguel Vargas: 2-4, 2 2B, R