White Sox pocket pair of wins over Royals
There was no bad blood on Sunday.
No bad weather.
And for the most part, no bad baseball, at least on the White Sox' side.
It was a doubly good day at U.S. Cellular Field, with the Sox quickly posting a 3-2 win in a game that was suspended by rain Friday with the score tied at 2 after 8 innings.
After closer David Robertson struck out the side in the scoreless ninth, Avisail Garcia blooped a two-out single to left field in the bottom of the inning, scoring Melky Cabrera with the winning run.
Following a short break, Sunday's regularly scheduled game got rolling and the White Sox rallied to beat Kansas City 5-3.
"We came to the ballpark to win two and we got it done," starting pitcher John Danks said.
Equally important, the Sox got it done against a Royals team they lost to 15 times in the last 18 games dating back to last season.
It was pretty obvious these two AL Central entrants weren't too found of each other when Kansas City was sweeping a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium to open the season in early April, and a brawl finally broke out in Thursday night's game at the Cell.
As far as the White Sox are concerned, it's time to move on and the only place they want to fight the Royals is in the division standings.
"We definitely can hang with the other teams here," Robertson said after winning the first game Sunday and saving the second one. "We just have to go out and continue to take series. The more series you take, the better you end up at the end of the season."
The Sox won 2 of 3 from Kansas City, with Saturday's game being rained out. The makeup date is scheduled for July 17, when the rivals play a day/night doubleheader at the Cell.
The outcome wasn't looking good for the White Sox in Sunday's second game, which featured highlight catches in left field from K.C.'s Alex Gordon and Cabrera.
Heading into the sixth inning, the Sox were trailing 3-0 and they had just 1 hit off starter Edinson Volquez.
Micah Johnson led off the sixth and was victimized by Gordon, who dove into the stands to make one of the best catches of the season.
But Adam Eaton got a rally going with a single and Cabrera followed with a walk.
The White Sox' next hitter, Jose Abreu, grounded to third baseman Mike Moustakas and it looked a routine double play was in order.
Moustaksas is a solid defender, but he booted the ball for an error that allowed Eaton to score and the rest of the Sox' offense to come to life.
"Their whole defense doesn't give many opportunities," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "You have to take advantage of it when you get a chance like that. It was a great little run right there for our offense in coming back."
Adam LaRoche singled to score a run, Garcia singled and after Alexei Ramirez struck out, Conor Gillaspie delivered the biggest hit of the game, a 2-run single that put the White Sox in front 4-3 while knocking Volquez from the game.
Tyler Flowers added insurance with an RBI single and the Sox went on to topple the Royals for the second time in one day.
"That whole team over there is pretty solid in just about every facet," Flowers said. "If you have an opportunity you need to seize it, otherwise you're probably not going to win that game. We did a good job of that today. That's how good teams get beat and that's how teams pull out wins."
The White Sox are still trying to prove they're a good team, and finally figuring out a way to beat Kansas City helps their cause.
"Everybody's continuing to grind and get through it," Ventura said after the Sox improved to 8-9. "I know it's not where everybody wants to be but eventually it's going to get there. I like what our guys are doing and how they're going about it. They have each other, they're supporting each other, all that kind of stuff you like to see."