CHICAGO — After having been handcuffed for five innings and falling behind by three runs, the Kansas City Royals’ offense came to life and clawed its way back into a tie in the seventh inning.
Unfortunately the Royals bullpen gave up all the ground they’d covered. They couldn’t recover from that late lapse as they lost 7-3 to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday afternoon in the second game of a three-game series in front of an announced 12,363 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The game, originally scheduled for Wednesday night, was moved up because of weather concerns. The temperature at first pitch was 39 degrees with 15 mph winds.
The Royals were no-hit through the first five innings by White Sox starter Dylan Cease, but they bounced back to score two in the sixth and then the tying run in the top of the seventh.
With the score tied in the seventh, reliever Collin Snider gave up a pair of two-out singles, and Royals manager Mike Matheny turned to his bullpen stalwart Scott Barlow to try to close out the inning.
Instead, Barlow gave up a three-run home run to Andrew Vaughn on a first-pitch fastball. The White Sox tacked on another insurance run in the eighth inning.
Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield went 1 for 3 with two RBIs, and Andrew Benintendi (1 for 4) also drove in a run. Bobby Witt Jr. extended his hitting streak to six games, stole a base and scored a run. Edward Olivares also had a hit and a run scored, while Carlos Santana walked twice.
