Royals 6, White Sox 5: BBQ’d by Kansas City

The White Sox (0-2-2) blew a two-run lead in their first game against a division rival this afternoon with the Royals (3-1-0) coming out on top, 6-5.

Chicago pounced on Royals pitcher Carlos Hernandez for three runs in the first inning with a line drive single from Eloy Jiménez scoring Luis Robert and advancing Adam Eaton to third on an error by Royals left fielder Nick Heath. Gavin Sheets brought in Eaton with a ground out to first base. Yermín Mercedes lined a singled to left to bring in Jiménez.

Starter Kade McClure pitched one good first inning, giving up one hit and striking out one. But the Royals made up the three runs they lost in the bottom of the second against Sox reliever Tyler Johnson, who’d completely lost the plate. A Mercedes throwing error from behind the plate didn’t help the cause, either, and the Royals tied the game, 3-3.

After a quiet third inning from both teams, Zack Collins belted a home run to center field, giving the Sox a 4-3 lead in the fourth.

In the next frame, Mercedes would score Nick Williams on a line drive single to left to expand their lead by two.

The bottom of the fifth proved to be difficult for the White Sox. With one out, Royals first baseman Carlos Santana singled on a soft ground ball back to the fifth and final Sox pitcher of the day, Bennett Sousa. Santana would advance to second on a throwing error by Sousa. After a walk to Jorge Soler, Bobby Witt Jr. singled past Danny Mendick, scoring two runs to knot the game. Edward Olivares doubled on a fly ball to Nick Williams, making it a 6-5 ball game as Witt crossed the plate.

The Sox would end the shortened game with back-to-back strike outs from Seby Zavala and Micker Adolfo in the top of the sixth.

It certainly hasn’t been a great start for the White Sox in Arizona, but let us remind ourselves this is spring training, and there are new rules that don’t exactly encourage comebacks. Jiménez, Robert, and Collins all showed up today. Two, if not three, of those players will be in the starting lineup on April 1 — that’s what really matters.