Royals 4, White Sox 2: No stopping a Treanor

Jake Peavy might be a bulldog, but he's still a White Sox pitcher.

And that means he's no match for Matt Treanor.

For some reason, the White Sox decided to issue an intentional walk to bring their .218-hitting nemesis (not Alex Rios) to the plate, and the backup catcher from hell sank the Sox once again. This time, it was a two-run single that gave the Royals a 3-2 lead in the sixth.

When Treanor starts against the Sox, the Sox have no chance. He's hitting .310/.382/.621 against the South Siders, and many of those hits have hurt:

Treanor aside, this was yet another game where the Sox took an early lead, and then told the pitching staff, "Welp, smell ya later!"

The White Sox scored two runs in the first off Danny Duffy,  when Juan Pierre took an 0-2 pitch on his right cheek to lead off the game. Alexei Ramirez followed with a four-pitch walk, and after Paul Konerko struck out, Carlos Quentin picked him up with a single to center. Alex Rios' infield single got Ramirez home, and they struck for a quick 2-0 lead.

Duffy needed 27 pitches to complete the first, and stranded two runners after a 29-pitch third inning ...

... and then he threw just 32 pitches over his last four innings, giving him seven strong ones on the evening. He allowed just seven baserunners (five hits, two walks) and struck out six, including two key K's of Brent Lillibridge, who stranded four runners over three at-bats.

Another flat effort by the White Sox gave the Royals ample time to climb back into it against Jake Peavy. Kansas City scored one in the second, but Peavy did well to limit the damage after facing runners on second and third with nobody out.

He couldn't do the same in the sixth. Billy Butler hit a one-out single, Francouer doubled him to third, and they both came around on Treanor's single to center to effectively win the game. Melky Cabrera added a solo shot off Chris Sale to add to the cushion in the seventh.

But Peavy looked better tonight than he had in a while. His fastball was 90-91, he was hitting his spots, and he had his slider working. The offense is going to have to step up at some point.

Notes:

*Tyler Flowers was 0-for-3 with a strikeout, but he did hit a hangwiffem to Alex Gordon, and started two successful rundowns. One was especially awesome -- Cabrera tried to steal second while Gordon was standing there. Flowers made Gordon pick a direction, and he ran to third. For some reason, Cabrera didn't stand on second when he was five feet from the bag. He instead opted to return the first, making his baserunning error even more egrocious.

*Gordon Beckham committed an error on an unsuccessful glove flip to Alexei Ramirez, but made up for it later with a great diving stab-and-throw after ranging well to his left.

Record: 47-50 | Box score | Play-by-play