advertisement

White Sox struggle and fall 7-1 to Royals

CHICAGO - Another night of errors, poor pitching and lack of situational hitting cost the White Sox.

Mike Moustakas homered twice, Bruce Chen pitched five effective innings and the Kansas City Royals snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-1 rout of the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

Adam Dunn went 2 for 4 with a solo homer for the White Sox, who had won three of four.

The White Sox also committed two errors.

"All the way around tonight you're going to lose a game like that. We didn't pitch well, we didn't field well, we didn't hit well, so your chances of extending a winning streak aren't going to happen, so you just have to be better than that," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura. "I don't know if we did anything all that great tonight."

Chicago starter Scott Carroll (4-6) allowed five runs and 11 hits in five-plus innings. He allowed four runs in the sixth inning.

"Overall, I just didn't think I had my best stuff. But I have to better, the sixth inning is what really got me. Up until that point I just felt rusty," said Carroll, who made his first start since July 12.

Moustakas, who has 12 homers this season, went 3 for 5 with three RBIs.

The Royals entered the game with a major league-worst 55 homers and had managed a total of six runs during the losing streak.

Chen (2-2) allowed one run and five hits in five innings.

Moustakas led off the second with a long homer to right field to make it 1-0. The White Sox tied it when Dunn led off the fourth with a homer to left.

The Royals broke the game open with a four-run sixth inning thanks to some timely hits - another missing element during the losing streak - and White Sox miscues.

Billy Butler led off with a double and the next batter, Raul Ibanez, drove him in with a double to make it 2-1. Alcides Escobar followed with an infield hit to put runners on first and third, and Ibanez scored on a passed ball as Nori Aoki walked for a 3-1 lead.

That was all for Carroll as Javy Guerra entered.

Guerra, though, immediately dug a deeper hole with his defense. With runners on first and second, Jarrod Dyson bunted back to the vicinity of the mound. Guerra fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw to first base was wild and sailed by second baseman Gordon Beckham and down the right field line, allowing Escobar to score on the throwing error.

The Royals capped the scoring in the inning with a sacrifice fly by Omar Infante to made it 5-1.

Since the 2011 season, Chen is 7-3 with a 2.84 ERA against the White Sox.

"It's not just us, I've seen him successful against other people. He softens it up. He's never really in the middle of the plate. He's always all over the place. He's just deceptive from either side," said Ventura.

Chen also tied fellow Panamanian Mariano Rivera for 82 major league wins.

"It feels really good. I was able to help the team win and I was able to tie Mariano for the most wins for a Panamanian. It was a great day," said Chen.

"For me, he's one of the best pitchers to ever pitch in the big leagues and to tie him for most wins by a Panamanian really means a lot to me and my family is very happy."

Moustakas added a two-run homer in the eighth.

NOTES: Ventura said he decided to give 1B Jose Abreu the night off after watching the major League home run leader move around looking a bit stiff during Monday's game. "Going through the All-Star stuff and everything else, not having a break, you just see little things," Ventura said. Abreu is not injured and should play in the series finale on Wednesday. ... Royals 1B Eric Hosmer missed a second straight game with a bruised right hand. He was hit with a pitch from Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. "He wanted to try (to play) today," manager Ned Yost said, "and I told him, 'Let's just take it easy, get treatment on it all day (Wednesday) and see where we are."' ... White Sox C Tyler Flowers' wife, Nancy, gave birth to a boy earlier Tuesday. Flowers wasn't at the ballpark for batting practice but arrived before game time. Backup Adrian Nieto started.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.