August 19: White Sox 4, Royals 2
Jose Contreras’ day began with a nine-pitch at-bat against David DeJesus; an ominous beginning for a guy who has battled inefficiency issues for the past couple of months.
That was one fewer pitch than Contreras needed to finish the entire seventh. First impressions can be misleading.
Contreras threw a quality start for only the second time in his last seven outings, limiting the damage to a DeJesus solo homer on a 3-2 fastball in the fourth inning.
That homer kicked off the only really laborious inning for Contreras. He needed 27 pitches to get through the frame, using a dozen to strike out Willie Bloomquist. The Royals couldn’t break him. Instead, the high-sock-sporting Contreras converted that battle into positive momentum — he finishes his day retiring 12 of his last 13 batters. DeJesus, of course, drew the lone walk.
He outdueled Zack Greinke in the process. The Sox didn’t get to Greinke often, but they made their six hits count.
In this case, first impressions weren’t misleading. Scott Podsednik started the bottom of the first with a double, and he would score three batters later on Paul Konerko’s rattler into the left-field corner.
Gordon Beckham and Alexis Rios then found a couple of hanging breaking balls to their liking for solo shots. Rios turned on a slider for his first homer in a White Sox uniform.
The Sox didn’t record a non-extra-base hit until the eighth inning, when Paul Konerko(!) scored an infield single by grounding one far enough away from the rangeless Yuniesky Betancourt.
Record: 62-59 | Box score | Play-by-play
