Reeling from a downward spiral started by an errant Tyler Saladino throw on a hard grounder that should have ended the fifth, the White Sox did not seem primed for a breakthrough when Kelvin Herrera buzzed Todd Frazier‘s tower with one out in the top of the eighth.
1. Frazier made his unhappiness known, while Salvador Perez played peacemaker and Hawk made his obligatory calls for blood. But Herrera’s command never returned after the disturbance. Frazier ripped a groundball past a diving Cheslor Cuthbert for a double down the left field line, and despite getting momentarily tricked by the high trajectory of Alex Avila‘s single to center, he wheeled around third and scored, sealing a more effective and readily embraced form of revenge. Suddenly, forced into a high-leverage spot with the chance to tie the game, Avisail Garcia stared down the Kansas City relief ace and worked a full-count walk, which should have been plenty indication that the moment was at hand.
2. In stepped Carlos Sanchez, coming off Thursday’s walk-off single against Cleveland, but more recently coming off three strikeouts earlier in the night. Sanchez too took Herrera to a full count before he got a fastball up and in and skied a towering fly into the right field corner that carried, carried and dropped into the right field seats to give the Sox a stunning 6-4 lead. Melky Cabrera added the favor of drilling a solo shot out to right in the top of ninth to extend the game to 7-4, which squarely refocused the night’s affair to a question of Sale nailing down the end of his 16th win.
3. Riding a streak of five-straight outings eight innings or longer, running a relatively low pitch count, and blessed with a second chance after bad fieldwork cost him an early lead, Chris Sale would not be denied Friday. He pitched over a Billy Burns leadoff single for a scoreless eighth, and after issuing his first walk of the night in the ninth, powered up to blow away Cuthbert and pinch-hitter Paulo Orlando with fastballs to cap off a 119-pitch complete game, his sixth complete game, and his fourth double-digit strikeout effort of the season.
4. Sale took a perfect game into the fifth, but things descended quickly from there. A hard hit grounder to Saladino looked like it would save Sale from a runners on second and third situation, but when he settled himself and loaded up for a throw to retire Hunter Dozier, it sailed high over Jose Abreu‘s grasp, as he found himself caught between trying to keep his foot on the bag and catch the ball to prevent a second run from scoring. Burns dropped a bunt to third to reach first to start off the sixth, and put the Royals ahead 3-2 when he came home on a Whit Merrifield triple to the left-center gap. Sale quickly tempted at escaping the jam when he struck out Eric Hosmer, but Kendrys Morales plated Merrifield with a knock to left to put the Royals up 4-2.
5. The Sox threatened to break things open against Ian Kennedy early on. For the second-straight start, Kennedy walked three Sox hitters in an inning, loading the bases in the second. He didn’t escape completely scot-free this time around, allowing the first run of the night on a Leury Garcia groundout. An Abreu single to center (one of his two hits on the night) followed by a Cabrera double set the Sox up for a deep Frazier sacrifice fly to the warning track in left in the third. Kennedy left after six with two runs allowed on 111 pitches, but escaped without more damage than would have been expected early.
Team Record: 72-75
Next game is Saturday at Kansas City at 6:15pm CT on CSN
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