This recap would've come earlier, but I wanted to see the circumstances of the bunt everybody talked about.
In the first inning, the Sox started with an immediate rally off Danny Duffy, as Adam Eaton walked and Jose Abreu singled. Up came Melky Cabrera, who hit a grand slam off Duffy the last time they met, which was two weekends ago in Kansas City.
On the first pitch, though, Cabrera bunted, bringing to mind a lesser experience (the 1-0 loss to Matt Harvey in Queens). It was successful in moving the runners over, but not successful in leading to runs. Todd Frazier struck out in a poor at-bat and Brett Lawrie lined out to left.
There were a couple of differences between Cabrera's attempts. It looked like his idea this time, and he was bunting for a hit, hoping that Duffy would be too far off to the third base side to field it. It almost worked, but it didn't, and the result was the same -- taking an RBI opportunity away from one of the Sox' best hitters.
Also, like the Harvey game, Poor Jose Quintana was once again on the mound to receive nothing in the way of support. He lost his sixth straight decision despite pitching well. He allowed more homers today (three) than he had all season (two), but they were all solo shots that didn't clear the wall by much. The ball was carrying on a 91-degree day, and Cheslor Cuthbert benefited more than anybody, hitting two out.
Otherwise, Quintana struck out 10 while walking nobody over his eight innings.
But Duffy struck out 10 as well, and over six shutout innings. The Sox never had a rally that good again when it mattered. Avisail Garcia was picked off in the second inning, and Lawrie was called out on strikes with two on and two outs in the third inning.
After that? The Sox didn't get another hit until the ninth inning, with Royals pitching retiring 17 in a row.
They did avoid a shutout, and against Wade Davis of all people. Frazier singled with one out in the ninth --after missing his 20th homer by inches to right field earlier in the at-bat -- and moved to second on a groundout. He came home on Avisail Garcia's two-out ducksnort to right to put the Sox on the board, but Dioner Navarro flied out to left on the next pitch to end the game, and the Royals' eight-game losing streak.
Bullet points:
*White Sox run totals in Quintana's losses over the last two seasons: 1-0-1-1-1-0-0-1-1-3-2-1-1-3-0-2-1.
*Baseball-Reference.com lists no players with the nickname "Poor [first name]." The closest I can think of is Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy.
*Tim Anderson's second game wasn't as charmed as his first, as he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
*A good time was had by all at the South Side Sox meetup. Thanks to the 60ish people who came out.
Record: 31-31 | Box score | Highlights