John Danks, truly off his game for the first time since April, received a strong showing from the offense for the second consecutive start. Unfortunately, the bullpen couldn't say the same.
The Sox rallied from deficits of 4-0, 5-2, and 6-5 to back Danks, who had no secondary pitches and left fastballs up in the zone all day long. But after grabbing their final lead in the seventh, the Sox bullpen blew it in the eighth, with most of the blame falling squarely on the shoulders of Matt Thornton.
Octavio Dotel hit Jose Guillen in the hand, and he stole second to put a runner in scoring position with two outs for Ross Gload. Ozzie Guillen called for Thornton for some lefty-on-lefty action, and Thorndog immediately blew the advantage by walking Gload on five pitches. A double to Sox-killing Esteban German later, the Royals had an 8-7 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
It spoiled a fine effort from Sox hitters, who repeatedly came up big with two outs.
Carlos Quentin sparked the first-inning rally after Brian Bannister retired the first two hitters, muscling a single over Mark Grudzielanek's head. Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome followed with singles for the game's first run, and after Paul Konerko was hit by a pitch, Nick Swisher walked to cut the deficit in half.
Konerko started another two-out fire in the fourth with a single. Swisher backed him up with a single, and Joe Crede brought them both in with a three-run homer into the left field seats to tie the game at 5.
Swisher would give the Sox a 7-6 lead with a two-run homer into the right-field seats, two batters after Thome led off the seventh with a double down the left field line for the 2000th hit of his career.
However, a bad decision by Jeff Cox thwarted the Sox from tying the game once again in the eighth. With A.J. Pierzynski on second and one out, Brian Anderson -- who entered for Dye after a pitch hit him in the kneecap in the fourth -- shot a single through the left side.
Maybe Cox thought Pierzynski was faster than he is. Or maybe he thought German was in left field instead of rifleman Jose Guillen. Whatever the case may be, Guillen got the ball before A.J. had rounded third and had an extremely easy assist at home, keeping it an 8-7 game. Thome then struck out to end the inning.
If there was a bright spot from the bullpen, it was the work of Bobby Jenks, who came in for the first time since going on the DL and worked an easy 1-2-3 inning. D.J. Carrasco also pitched three important innings in relief of Danks, but it was soured some by the fact that he missed intentionally hitting Billy Butler in retaliation for the plunking of Dye, who was hit for the second time in the series, and was the fifth Kansas City HBP in only three days. A warning was issued to both teams even though Carrasco missed, and Ozzie Guillen didn't look happy in the dugout.
Record: 55-42 |
Box score |
Play-by-play