White Sox 8, Royals 0: Palka Party

Who would have thought that a trip to Kansas City is all the White Sox needed to bounce back from an ugly start?

Carson Fulmer was very good in the first of a split doubleheader today giving him back-to-back quality starts, Matt Davidson continues to own Kauffman Stadium, and Daniel Palka rolled out the barrel to the tune of four hits as the White Sox beat down the Royals, 8-0.

The scoring started with two outs and Palka’s first career base knock against first time Royals starter, Trevor Oaks, in the second inning going opposite field for a single. Tim Anderson followed Palka with a single of his own to center field, and Palka displayed savvy base running to get to third. On the very next pitch, Leury Garcia singled to left field scoring Palka and giving the White Sox a 1-0 lead. Not a good sequence for Oaks who gave up three straight hits on three pitches.

It was still a one-run game going into the fourth inning when Oaks ran into serious trouble. First pitch of the inning, Palka collected his second hit with another single to left field. Tim Anderson singled to center field, Leury Garcia had a bunt single, and the inning started off as like the second inning rally.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, Yoan Moncada singled to score Palka as the White Sox had a 2-0 lead. After a mound visit, on a 1-2 pitch, Yolmer Sanchez emptied the bases with a double to left field but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Nonetheless, Sanchez broke the game open giving the Sox a 5-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, after Matt Davidson’s single was wiped away with a double play grounder from Welington Castillo, Palka collected his first extra-base hit with a double to left field again. Palka would be stranded at second base as Tim Anderson flew out to center ending the threat. To cap off Palka’s already wonderful day, after a Nicky Delmonico walk and Davidson double, Palka took a 2-2 curveball out to deep right field for his first career home run, giving the White Sox an 8-0 lead.

Carson Fulmer’s day started off on shaky ground. After getting two quick outs in the first inning, Fulmer walked Salvador Perez on four straight pitches, a single to Lucas Duda, and walked Jorge Soler to load the bases. After a mound visit from Don Cooper, Fulmer got Jon Jay to fly out to right field ending the threat.

After that inning, Fulmer retired 10 straight hitters before the Royals tried again to rally. After walking Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon singled to center field putting runners on first and second. After another mound visit, Fulmer induced an infield fly from Drew Butera and Whit Merrifield grounded into the 6-4-3 double play ending the inning.

Royals again were threatening to score against Fulmer as he was running out of gas in the seventh inning. With two outs, Alex Gordon singled to put runners on first and third as Fulmer reached 100 pitches. Another mound visit and Fulmer escaped the jam again getting Butera to fly out to center field.

Fulmer finished the day throwing 109 pitches with 61 of those being strikes. Only allowing four hits, three walks to three strikeouts and lowering his season ERA to 4.32. Chris Beck came in to finish the game throwing two scoreless innings and the duo combined for the first White Sox shutout of 2018.

Game Notes:

  • Matt Davidson didn’t hit a home run but was 3-for-5 raising his batting average to .259 and his season OPS to 1.010.
  • Yoan Moncada had another multi-hit game going 2-for-5 and is now batting .271
  • Yolmer Sanchez is now second on the team in RBI, with 14.
  • Dylan Covey will be starting tonight’s game with first pitch at 7:15 pm.
  • Just how good has this start been for the White Sox against the Royals?

Record: 8-16 | Box Score

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StockroomSnail

Fulmer will never be called “easy heat jr.” I know nothing of pitching mechanics but I hurt watching him.

Keep spanking the monarchy!

Pointerbabe

Better than spanking the monkey