I think I’ve started a few game recaps like this — if you’re looking for good White Sox news, I will defer you to our minor league recap.
Michael Kopech was great tonight for the Charlotte Knights, and, well, the Sox weren’t.
The team couldn’t put any runners across home plate until the seventh inning, when Matt Davidson hit a two-run home run off Royals’ reliever Kevin McCarthy. The ball floated in the middle of the plate, and Davidson didn’t miss it.
Other than that, not a whole lot for the Sox offense tonight. Tim Anderson hit the ball hard four times, but was 1-for-4 to show for it.
Anderson was also benched after his last at-bat for not running out a lineout. It appeared initially that the ball was caught, but third baseman Rosell Herrera instead dropped it once the camera turned away.
Kansas City finally got on the board in the sixth inning on a Ryan O’Hearn (who?) two-run home run. It was O’Hearn’s first-career major league hit, and fans watching at home got to witness how the Kansas City bullpen tried retrieving the coveted baseball — it was actually pretty entertaining.
One of the Royals relievers (they’re not too recognizable) tracked down the fan who caught the home run and exchanged it for a baseball full of signatures from players in the bullpen. I don’t think that ball will go for too much on eBay, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
The Royals added two more runs on another home run in the seventh— this time from the newly acquired Brett Phillips. Kansas City acquired Phillips from Milwaukee for Mike Moustakas a few days ago.
The Sox had a great chance to cut into the lead or even tie the game up in the eighth. Adam Engel led off with a single, and eventually stole second. Yolmer Sanchez then lined a single to right to give the Sox runners on the corners with nobody out. Highly-touted and definitely-not-washed-up Royals reliever Jason Hammel then retired the next three batters.
Yeah, it was just one of those nights for the Sox. James Shields finished his night with another seven innings of work but surrendered five hits, three walks and four earned runs.
The Royals improve to 33-73, while the Sox drop to 37-69 (yikes).