Lopez, White Sox fall to Royals, 5-0

Scheduled to start for the Chicago White Sox Saturday, Reynaldo Lopez and his wife Jhilaris welcomed a baby girl late Friday afternoon.

Sox manager Rick Renteria was prepared to make a change in the rotation before hearing from Lopez.

"He sent me a text," Renteria said. "He said, 'I'm at the hospital. My wife's giving birth. I'll be here (Friday). And I'll be there tomorrow.'

"I said, 'OK, make sure everything's OK.' He said, 'I'll be ready to start.' And it was as simple as that."

Lopez took the mound as scheduled in the White Sox's 5-0 loss to the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field.

In his longest start since May 20, the 24-year-old righty pitched 7⅔ innings and allowed 5 runs on 9 hits. Lopez (4-7) had 7 strikeouts and didn't walk a batter.

"Feels good," Lopez said through a translator. "It's a whole different experience. It's my first baby and I'm really happy."

Lopez wasn't happy with two outs in the eighth inning, when Salvador Perez ended his outing with a 2-run homer.

Catcher Kevan Smith called for a changeup, a pitch Perez swung and missed at earlier in the at-bat. Lopez shook off to a fastball, and it cleared the right-field fence.

Manager Rick Renteria was ejected in the fifth inning, so bench coach Joe McEwing lifted Lopez after the Perez home run.

When he got to the dugout, Lopez lost his temper and slammed his mitt in frustration. Renteria said he'll eventually talk to the young pitcher.

"The only thing I try to make sure they don't do is hurt themselves when they're exuding that frustration," Renteria said. "Once this is all settled down we can have a conversation. Talk to him about the good things he did to keep us in the ballgame. The heart he shows and the commitment he shows trying to go out and defeat his opponent, I won't take that away from him."

Moncada should be OK:

Second baseman Yoan Moncada (bruised right knee) left the game with one out in the top of the fifth inning on an apparent collision with the Royals' Paulo Orlando on a pickoff attempt.

Moncada was actually hit by the ball on Reynaldo Lopez's throw to the bag.

"I was feeling a lot of pain," Moncada said through a translator. "It felt like a hammer hitting on my knee. It was really painful."

The pain subsided and Moncada is likely to play on Sunday.

"(The ball) hit him in kind of the equivalent of the funny bone in the elbow," manager Rick Renteria said. "It gives you a little zinger and it takes a little while to dissipate. He should be fine tomorrow."

Thomas still angry:

Throughout his Hall of Fame career and into retirement, Frank Thomas has been outspoken about players either suspended for or strongly suspected of using steroids.

The topic came up again Saturday, and Thomas' stance did not change.

"I was the most hurt in that era," Thomas said. "My career was stepped on. I had an incredible career and some of the guys on steroids passed me up in one year. To dominate for seven straight years like I did and then overnight go back to 15th in home runs, it's alarming.

"Back then, I was naive. I thought guys were just getting better workout programs, and they were really killing themselves. That's OK. I got what I deserved."