White Sox stage furious rally in season opener but fall short against Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Every major-league team wants to make a positive impression on Opening Day, and the White Sox are no different.
But let's be honest about first showings in baseball's marathon season.
Last year, the Sox opened with a bang at Kansas City.
In a 14-7 victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium, they tied a major-league record with 6 home runs on Opening Day. Matt Davidson also matched the record with 3 homers.
It was a great way to start the season, no doubt about it. But it didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things as the White Sox went on to lose 100 games for the first time since 1970.
The White Sox were back in K.C. for Opening Day again Thursday, and they opened with a whimper before staging a furious rally in the ninth inning.
In a game delayed by rain for 1 hour and 46 minutes, the Sox came up short and lost 5-3. It wasn't a great way to start the season, but they were understandably encouraged by the way the game ended.
Trailing 5-0 heading into the ninth, the White Sox went to work against the Royals' erratic bullpen and nearly pulled out a win.
“Their guy (Kansas City starter Brad Keller) did a nice job attacking the strike zone,” Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “I thought we did have some good at-bats throughout, and we put ourselves in a really good position to possibly tie or go ahead.
“At the end of the day, we gave them a little bit of a fight.”
The Royals used four relievers in the ninth, and the White Sox managed to score 3 runs on 3 walks, 2 singles and a hit batter.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Yolmer Sanchez lined out to right field to end the game.
“We were there at the last moment,” said Eloy Jimenez, who drove in the Sox's first run when he was hit by a pitch on the left big toe. “I think we are going to start playing better now. We feel good the first game is OK. Now it's in the past.”
Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon made his first opening-day start and was sharp early, holding K.C. hitless through the first three innings.
Rodon allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 3 hits and 1 walk in 5⅓ innings while throwing 101 pitches. He was hurt by errors from shortstop Tim Anderson and Sanchez at second base.
“It was OK,” Rodon said of his outing. “It started off well. I started throwing strikes and then I kind of fell behind hitters later on in the game, which drove up the pitch count. They were pretty patient today. It was an OK game. I just wish I could have gone 6 or 7 (innings) for the boys, but at the end we made a nice little run. Showed some fight, so that was nice to see.”