Royals 2, White Sox 1: Offense still absent

Miguel Gonzalez did his job. The White Sox offense, once again, failed at its task.

Facing another auxiliary starter -- this one limited to just 60ish pitches -- the White Sox only scratched across one run, and of course it scored on a bases-loaded double play.

Gonzalez ended up taking the loss despite giving the Sox what they needed from the back end of the rotation. He allowed two runs over his six innings, making it his longest start of the year. An Eric Hosmer sac fly in the first and a Lorenzo Cain solo shot in the sixth bookended his afternoon, but in between was good clean pitching. He struck out eight with no walks.

But he had no help. Danny Duffy held the Sox scoreless, but only over 4⅓ innings due to a pitch limit as he stretches back out into a starting capacity. That said, the front end of the Kansas City bullpen wasn't any easier for the White Sox.

Granted, nothing's breaking their way. In the fourth, Melky Cabrera hit a double off the top of the wall in left center, and Brett Lawrie, who had his own warning-track shot in his first at-bat, followed by hitting a line drive that Mike Moustakas snared.

But they had a golden opportunity in the seventh thanks to some Kansas City kindness, and they botched it. Brian Flynn walked Dioner Navarro and gave up a single to Tyler Saladino, followed by Moustakas bobbling Adam Eaton's bunt due to a blown assignment (he looked to third base, but nobody was there).

Out came Joakim Soria, and up came Jose Abreu, still batting second, but this time at DH in an attempt to get him energized. Soria pitched Abreu the way he doesn't like to be pitched these days -- two fastballs inside, a curveball down and away, and another pitch inside. It was an elevated changeup, but it didn't matter, as Abreu bounced harmlessly into a 6-4-3 double play. It scored a run, but Todd Frazier grounded out to keep the Sox behind.

Abreu went 1-for-4, but he grounded into two double plays. The White Sox as a whole went hitless with runners in scoring position for the second straight game, going 0-for-6 with nine stranded this time.

Bullet points:

*Tyler Saladino is reprising his role as a player who makes a decent impression when nobody else is. He went 2-for-3 and drew his first walk of the season against Wade Davis to extend the game to Adam Eaton, who grounded out. His OBP is no longer lower than his batting average.

*Matt Albers, Dan Jennings and Nate Jones pitched around four baserunners during their three scoreless innings. Jerry Sands contributed with a nice 3-6-3 double play.

Record: 25-18 | Box score | Highlights