Floyd, winning streak run out of gas as Royals beat White Sox 6-4

Posted July 03, 2009 11:00 pm

Scot Gregor

A 2-run homer by Jermaine Dye put the White Sox ahead of the Royals 3-0 in the third inning Saturday, and starting pitcher Gavin Floyd took a no-hitter into the fifth.

It looked like the Sox were going to cruise to their eighth straight win, but the offense went quiet at the same time Floyd was running out of gas.

Add it up, and it equaled a 6-4 loss to Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium.

"We continued to play hard," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters after the game. "They just played better than we did today."

At first glance, a bad play by shortstop Alexei Ramirez appeared to put the Sox in a big hole.

In the sixth inning, the Royals' Willie Bloomquist singled and stole second, and Billy Butler walked. Jose Guillen followed with a groundball to Chris Getz, who flipped to Ramirez for a force at second base.

It looked like a routine double play, but Ramirez was late getting to the bag and his throw to first base wasn't quick enough to get Guillen.

The Royals wound up scoring 3 runs to take a 5-4 lead.

Guillen absolved Ramirez of any blame.

"He was playing (Jose Guillen) to pull," Guillen said. "He was all the way to the third-base side and he couldn't get there on time."

After missing the last two games with a sore right middle finger, Ramirez was 2-for-4 in his return.

Floyd (6-6) was sharp early, but the right-hander ran out of gas in the fifth and sixth innings, when the Royals scored all of their runs.

"I was throwing the ball well and then all of a sudden gave up some runs," said Floyd, who pitched 51/3 innings and allowed 5 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. "I got behind a lot of hitters. I wasn't aggressive enough."

After Gordon Beckham homered off K.C. starter Luke Hochevar (4-3) with one out in the sixth inning, the White Sox had just 1 more hit, and none over the last three innings.

"Our offense was pretty good early," Guillen said. "But their bullpen came in and did a good job. We did fight, so that was good to see."

Gordon Beckham is tagged out by Kansas City Royals second baseman Alberto Callaspo as he tries to stretch a single in the second inning. Associated Press

Scot Gregor's game tracker Saturday's grade: C-. The Sox had everything going early, but they slipped late and snapped a seven-game winning streak. Floyd falls: White Sox starter Gavin Floyd had a no-hitter after four innings, but the right-hander took the loss after allowing 5 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks over 5⅓ innings. Floyd had delivered eighth straight quality starts before slipping Saturday. Rolling along: Gordon Beckham was 2-for-4 with a solo home run. Over his last seven games, the rookie third baseman is batting .444. On tap: The Sox wrap up their road trip today, trying to return from Cleveland and K.C. with a 6-1 record. Brian Bannister, who starts for the Royals, has allowed just 9 earned runs over 34 innings in his last 5 starts (2.12 ERA).