Royals 4, White Sox 3: Grand beginning enough for Kansas City

This game was destined to get out of hand in the first inning.

Walking the bases loaded, White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Covey on a 3-2 count grooved a fastball over the heart of home plate to Brandon Moss. As expected, Moss didn't miss and launched a no-doubter into the right field bleachers for a grand slam putting Kansas City quickly ahead, 4-0.

Then something funny happened - Covey recovered, and Kansas City had difficulty generating offense. 14 of the next 15 batters were retired by Covey only allowing a walk during that stretch to the before mentioned Moss. In the sixth inning, Covey allowed a double to Eric Hosmer but received some luck in getting Salvador Perez to line out to Tim Anderson, who doubled up Hosmer at second for a quick double play. Manager Rick Renteria would swap Covey for reliever Jace Fry after that at bat, but it was impressive rebound for the right hander. The final line isn't: 5.2 IP 2 H 4 ER 4 BB 1 K. However, Covey allowed the White Sox to scratch and clawed their way back into this game.

The scoring started in the third inning with a leadoff single by Rymer Liriano, who also recorded his first stolen base with the White Sox. With one out, Yolmer Sanchez continued his recent excellent play driving in Liriano on his 17th double of 2017 cutting the deficit to 4-1.

Another run would be added on in the fourth inning. Back-to-back singles by Nicky Delmonico and Avisail Garcia had the makings of a big inning for the Sox. After Rob Brantly struck out, Tim Anderson laced a single up the middle to plate Delmonico and move Avi to third base. With runners on the corners, Anderson swiped second for his 10th steal of the season. Despite having both runners in scoring position, the Sox couldn't capitalize as Liriano struck out and Adam Engel grounded out.

Down 4-2 in the eighth inning, again Delmonico got the rally started with a leadoff single. He would move up 90 feet after Avi's soft chopper back to reliever Peter Moylan for the first out. On the first pitch from Moylan, Brantly hit a double to left field scoring Delmonico and giving the Sox an opportunity to tie the game with a runner on second with just one out. Again, the White Sox failed to tie the game as Anderson grounded out, and Alen Hanson pinched hit for Rymer Liriano to produce a fly out.

That wasn't the last rally though for the Sox. In the ninth, they even had better odds of tying or even taking the lead. Engel got things going with a lead off double and advance to third on Sanchez's hard single to right field. Runners on the corners, no outs, and heart of the lineup coming up against Scott Alexander.

• Yoan Moncada struck out chasing sinker out of the zone.
• Jose Abreu popped out to shallow right field.

With just one out remaining, Renteria opted for the bench as he had Matt Davidson pinch hit for Delmonico. After watching sinker for a ball, Davidson swung at a similar pitch beating it into the ground for the game ending 5-4 fielder's choice.

A very disappointing finish for the Sox is a huge sigh of relief for Kansas City, who moves back to .500 with the win and 2.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins for the last playoff spot.

Record: 57-87 | Box Score