The Kansas City Royals fit a ton of offense into a three out span, piling up 11 runs between the fifth and sixth innings en route to a 12-1 win over the Chicago White Sox tonight at Rate Field.
Full disclosure: this was the first time this writer has watched a Ryan Bergert outing in full. The four-seamer seemed to really jump on hitters, especially when he put it at the top of the zone. The sweeper looked really sharp, particularly to the armside. That is, it looked very sharp until the fourth inning. After getting ahead in the count against Andrew Benintendi, he threw a sweeper that was below the zone but split the plate. Benintendi went down and got it, scooping it deep enough down the right field line to just barely clear the fence for a homer. Edgar Quero then stayed back on one of those backdoor sweepers and knocked it the other way for a single. Chase Meidroth then got a middle-middle slider and ripped it into left to give the Sox three consecutive hits. Bergert managed to clamp down and finish the inning, but Chicago led 1-0.
That’s right, heading to the fifth, Kansas City had yet to get on the board against Aaron Civale. In fact, they hadn’t really come close. Vinnie Pasquantino had the only hard-hit ball on an F8 in the first, while Adam Frazier was the only baserunner after reaching on a flare to center. Leading off the fifth, Salvador Perez did a classic Salvador Perez thing. After whiffing at a first pitch splitter, he swung at a high fastball that was almost in the left-handed batter’s box. He crushed it 396’ out to right field for an oppo taco that tied the game at one. Frazier followed with his own version of an oppo taco: an 87.1 mph line drive to left for a single. The next two batters were retired, but Kyle Isbel ripped one into right-center before Mike Yastrzemski walked on four pitches. That brought up Bobby Witt Jr. with the bases loaded and a chance to give Kansas City the lead. Civale got ahead 1-2 on a cutter up and away, but then he had the courtesy to throw the exact same pitch again. Witt jumped on it, ripping it into right field. Frazier and Isbel scored, Yastrzemski slid into third ahead of the throw, and Witt scooted into second. With the Royals now up 3-1 and two runners in scoring position, Civale’s night was over.
Sox manager brought in Tyler Gilbert to put out the fire. He got the result he wanted out of Pasquantino when the Royals first baseman hit a bouncer towards second. Lenyn Sosa got to it but the ball zipped under his glove and into right field to score both runners. Then Gilbert walked Maikel Garcia on four pitches. That brought up Perez for the second time in the inning. In case you’ve lost track — at this point the Royals are leading 5-1, have runners on first and second, two out, and have now batted around. Perez whacked a double down the left field line to give him six bases in the inning and the Royals their sixth and seventh runs. Up stepped Frazier who, as expected, stroked one to left field. This one stayed up long enough for a good left fielder to make the play, but Benintendi had to go into a dive and the ball clanked off his glove. Frazier and Perez swapped places to give the Royals an 8-1 lead with their biggest inning of the entire season. Jonathan India then mercifully flew out to end the inning.
After Bergert worked around a couple baserunners to toss a scoreless inning, Gilbert was left in to wear it for Chicago. Michael Massey ripped a double to lead off the inning and Isbel blooped one into the Bermuda Triangle in right field for a single. That brought up Yastrzemski with runners on the corners and one out. He hacked at a first pitch fastball in and didn’t miss it, crushing it to straightaway center and bouncing it off the wall and into the stands. The three-run homer gave the Royals an 11-1 lead. Still with nobody out in the sixth and needing somebody to soak up some innings, Will Venable took the ball from Gilbert and passed it off to Mike Vasil. Witt immediately put pressure on Vasil by ripping a ball to Brooks Baldwin at third base that the latter couldn’t handle for an infield single. But Vasil managed to do what Gilbert couldn’t, bearing down to record the next three outs and get back in the dugout.
With an 11-1 lead in tow, it was officially garbage time in the Southside. Bergert worked six solid innings and managed to wriggle out of a couple jams. He didn’t miss many bats but also allowed just five hard-hit balls. He gave way to the bullpen after six with Jonathan Bowlan entering in relief. The Royals got another run in the eighth. How it happened isn’t really important, but Yastrzemski doubled as part of it to continue hit heater. That also tied Kansas City’s season-high for runs scored in a game. The inning ended in comical fashion when Luke Maile hit a hard grounder that very likely would have gone for a hit, but it struck Nick Loftin, who was running from second to third on the play. The White Sox had catcher Korey Lee pitch the last two innings. Rather than also phoning it in, the Royals opted to give Angel Zerpa and Daniel Lynch IV some work. He both tossed scoreless innings, with Lynch posting a perfect ninth finish out a 12-1 victory.
The win improves Kansas City to 69-65. They remain three games out of a wild card spot. They will get tomorrow off before heading back to Kansas City for a long homestand that begins with a three-game set this weekend against the Detroit Tigers.
Ryan Bergert: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Aaron Civale: 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
Salvador Perez: 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI
Andrew Benintendi: 3-4, HR, R, RBI
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.royalsreview.com ’
