Royals 4, White Sox 2: Another lame opener

Another series opener, another thud of a loss.

Another righty with a competent sinker-slider combination, another quick 27 outs for the bats.

Brady Singer just about duplicated what Dane Dunning just did to the White Sox, although Singer had also shut down the White Sox earlier in the year, so maybe Dunning was the copycat.

Had either of these characteristics not plagued the White Sox over previous weeks, you could write it off as a hard-luck loss. Singer threw a lot of strikes, and the White Sox hit a lot of them hard, but Josh Harrison’s third-inning solo shot was the only one of six 350-foot flies off Singer to not die in a glove on the warning track.

But the string of quick outs put a “getaway day” feel on a “just got here” game. Singer a whopping 71 of his 99 pitches for strikes over 7⅓ innings, and he gave up the Harrison solo shot and four other singles while striking out six.

On the other side, Lance Lynn paid harsher penalties for his mistakes. He threw a couple of subpar cutters to Vinnie Pasquantino and Nick Pratto, and both turned into two-run homers three innings apart that accounted for all the Kansas City runs.

Lynn’s line — 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 2 HR — reflected a guy who pitched neither poorly nor well. Whether on purpose or by accident, Lynn challenged the KC lineup over the plate, and they won the day.

The White Sox did threaten late when Dylan Coleman entered the game. José Abreu led off the ninth by dropping a single into right field, and Andrew Vaughn scorched a double to the left-center gap to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Yoán Moncada got one home with a first-pitch sac fly to left, and Leury García fell behind 0-2, but hung around long enough for Coleman to hit him with his sixth pitch.

Mike Matheny then went to righty sidewinder Jose Cuas. He struck out Harrison on three pitches — two well-located borderline sinkers, and one well inside that turned into a bogus strike three when first-base umpire Clint Vondrak ruled that Harrison didn’t check his swing. Yasmani Grandal followed and was also frustrated by a first-pitch strike that was within the zone before bouncing out to first to end the game.

Bullet points:

*Abreu committed his seventh error of the season when he knocked down a Michael Massey grounder and failed to recover it in the second inning, but it didn’t come around to score.

*Joe Kelly pitched the seventh inning with the White Sox down three, which seemed like a curious use of a high-leverage guy in a doubleheader, especially one where Davis Martin is starting Game 2.

*The White Sox are now 12-23 in series openers this year.

*The White Sox placed Tim Anderson on the injured list with a sagittal band tear on the middle finger of his left hand. He will undergo surgery on Thursday, and is expected to miss six weeks.

Record: 55-54 | Box score | Statcast

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a-t

The Sox haven’t *lost* a series in over a month (July 6th). And yet they’ve only won three!

ForsterFTOG

Sox offense done in yet again by
Cy (Insert name of middling to bad no name RH pitcher)

Augusto Barojas

On a very positive note, watching Sox games has been scientifically proven to cure insomnia. The Russa is living proof!

SocksO’Graham

This is the 2020 Cubs. Just can’t score.

Who?