Royals make White Sox kneel, 5-0

The White Sox were sure to cruise through this one, right? After all, the lowly Royals were starting Carlos Hernandez, with all of two starts this year, both of them very poor, neither over four innings, and a miserable 6.04 ERA. Gotta hit that guy hard, right?

I guess ... if you consider three singles and a double over six innings hitting him hard.

And Hernandez has lousy control, so they’ll get a lot of walks, right? Makes the sky the limit for runs, right?

Well, there was one walk in the first inning, so there is that. And there were two runners past first, both of them being Adam Engel.

And that Royals bullpen is awful, once they come in, White Sox rule, right? First guy in, Richard Lovelady, a lefty, had a 5.97 ERA. Gonna crush him, right?

Depends if you think three strikeouts and one hit over two innings, a double by Billy Hamilton, rates as “crush.”

OK, Lovelady got lucky. What about when they went to Wade Davis, who once was good but now has a 7.67 ERA. Nail ’em time, right?

Right — if you consider only two of the three batters he faced in the ninth striking out nailing him.

Really unfair to talk down the offense like that. They were playing without Eloy Jiménez and José Abreu because of slight injuries, and Tim Anderson for a day off.

True, but not necessarily meaningful since José came in 1-for-20 and Tim 3-for-24. And , while his one blast was prodigious, Eloy is 2-for-11.

At least we had Carlos Rodón going for us.

Yeah, but not his day, for the second time in a row. Got to hope it was because of the intense heat, and not because he’s been way overused by the HOFBP, given how little he had pitched since 2018. Today he was hit for eight hits, four earned runs, and two homers over four innings.

Oh, then we had to go to the pen. Not good.

Actually, good. Reynaldo López gave up just one hit and one unearned run in two innings, and Ryan Burr, doing one of those “get-back-on-the-bicycle” things after Wednesday’s loss, walked two, but no hits, in two innings.

And how about that Andrew Vaughn at second base! Not a single mistake on a grounder!

That would be because he only had one hit to him. But he did start a double play on that one. And grabbed a couple of pop-ups, too.

Having the offense continue its awfulness really sucks. But did you hear about the trades? Maybe César Hernández can do that “next man up” thing that has worked so well, so far.

Sure, why not? And he brings lot more power to second base.

And did you see? Ryan Tepera for some guy named Horn! A Rick Hahn steal! Huge bullpen upgrade!

Bound to be.

So, let’s just forget about this game and concentrate on the trades.

Sure, sounds good.

And forget about the series.

OK.

And about the offense in the last 10 games.

Right on.