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After falling behind 1-0, briefly, the White Sox exploded for five in the second inning, had the frame extinguished only by a runner (Yasmani Grandal) thrown out at home, and controlled the game beyond a brief run from the Royals in the sixth to pull to within 6-4.
But from there, it was another crooked number to push the lead to 11-4, accented strongly by a Luis Robert MOONSHOT of a three-run homer.
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The Starts
Dylan Cease wasn’t great, again turning a bunch of 0-2s into 3-2s and losing guys. He got through five and earned the win, but by the skin of his teeth, taking 90-plus pitches to get 15 outs. Cease has to be better. His game score tonight was 44, his worst start in four games. At 46.6 on the season, Cease is just a nudge ahead of Gio González (43.0) in terms of game score.
Danny Duffy had another terrible start vs the White Sox, with just a 25 game score and a 33 in two efforts vs. Chicago this season.
Pressure Play
Duffy faced 2.57 LI pressure with the bases full in the second inning, with two outs and the score just 2-1, White Sox. But a wild pitch scored Danny Mendick and moved the runners up to second and third, for a full Royals Fail.
Pressure Cooker
With K.C. making a run to 6-4, Ryan McBroom took a pinch-hitting appearance with 1.86 pLI pressure and whiffed against Matt Foster with one out and a runner on third in the sixth.
Top Play
Nicky López’s two-run double off of Foster in the sixth to bring the Royals to within 6-4 was a .137 WPA hit, the highest value added in the game. José Abreu’s double to clear the bases to end the second and Edwin Encarnación’s homer in the second to start the scoring for the Sox were the two next-most-valuable hits.
Game MVP
Well, WIN and others might not like it, but edging out Tim Anderson for tops in the game tonight was K.C.’s López, who clocked a .171 WPA with a 2-for-4, three-RBI night. Third place went to José Abreu.
Magic Number: 5
In both the second and the seventh innings the White Sox put up one of the sexiest crooked numbers out there, 5s, in the linescore. Hard to lose when you’re putting up 5-spots.