Grifol after White Sox lose another game to Royals: 'We've got to be better'

This was the road trip that was supposed to get the White Sox right.

Wrong.

It started out in decent shape, with the Sox winning two of three from the Reds in Cincinnati.

It ended with a thud, and manager Pedro Grifol voiced his sharpest comments of the season after the White Sox lost to the Royals 4-3 Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

"We got outplayed in this series," Grifol told reporters. "Flat out. We played pretty good baseball in Cincinnati. We had some momentum coming in and we got outplayed."

The Sox (13-26) lost three of four to Kansas City (12-27), which is in last place in the AL Central. The gap between the two teams is down to one game.

"Concerned? There's a lot of baseball left," Grifol said. "Disappointed at times with lack of urgency? Absolutely. I am. Absolutely. That starts with me. So, we've got to be better. We've got to be better as a staff. We've got to be better as a ballclub."

Trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning, Luis Robert gave the White Sox a lift with a 2-run double off Aroldis Chapman to tie it.

But Reynaldo Lopez gave the lead up, walking Nick Pratto to lead off the ninth.

Pratto moved to third on Matt Duffy's one-out single and scored the winning run on Freddy Fermin's bunt hit.

"Definitely a tough loss," Robert said through an interpreter. "When you are behind and come back as we did, you're hoping to get something going."