|
CHICAGO (AP) -It was hard to tell that most of the
Chicago White Sox
had a four-day break. Their batting eyes were sharp and their early approach against
Zack Greinke
was right on target.
Chicago's first eight batters reached Friday night and the
White Sox
turned seven first-inning singles into six runs in a 9-5 victory over the
Kansas City Royals
.
Greinke had given up six hits and a run over seven innings against Chicago when the teams met in Kansas City eight days ago.
He didn't look like the same pitcher as the teams opened the second half of the season.
''We were different. We just came out and attacked and before you knew it, he had given up a couple of runs off four or five
hits and I think he didn't know what hit him,'' said Chicago's
Jermaine Dye
, who had a two-run single in the first.
''I was surprised we came out like that after four days off and being able to see the ball like we did tonight.''
Dye went 3-for-4 with a walk,
Carlos Quentin
homered and
Mark Buehrle
pitched seven innings to get the win.
''They had four days off to recoup themselves mentally and physically. ... To see them come out and swing the bat that way,
you feel a little bit better,''
White Sox
manager
Ozzie Guillen
said.
''Because in the back of your mind, you don't know how they're going to throw, how they're going to hit, how they're going
to play defense. Because four days is a lot of time off. But they reacted the right way.''
Buehrle (7-8) allowed four hits, including a long three-run homer to
Billy Butler
that got Kansas City within 7-4 in the sixth. But the
White Sox
added two runs against the Royals' bullpen and maintained their 1 1/2-game lead over Minnesota.
The
White Sox
had 22 hits Sunday in a 12-11 loss at Texas in their final game before the break and then continued the hitting tear in the
first against Greinke.
Greinke (7-6) lasted three-plus innings, his shortest outing of the season, and left after loading the bases in the fourth
on a single and two walks, a jam reliever
Joel Peralta
quickly escaped. Greinke, 2-8 in his career against the
White Sox
including 0-6 at U.S. Cellular Field, gave up seven runs, 11 hits and three walks.
And the
White Sox
were feasting on his pitches early in the count. They scored five runs after the Royals' right-hander had thrown only 16 pitches.
''It's starting to get into my head a little bit,'' Greinke said of his poor outings in Chicago. ''Always in this park. ...
Kind of weird. Five pitches, six pitches, five hits or five people on base. So before you knew it, it was really bad.''
Orlando Cabrera
and A.J. Pierzysnki opened with singles and Greinke hit Quentin with a pitch near the left wrist to load the bases. Dye followed
with a two-run single,
Jim Thome
and
Paul Konerko
had run-scoring singles and
Nick Swisher
singled to reload the bases.
Joe Crede
delivered another RBI single and then
Alexei Ramirez
had a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to make it 6-1.
Quentin hit his 23rd homer leading off the second for a 7-1 lead.
The only hit Buerhle allowed through the first five innings was a bloop RBI single in the first by
Mark Grudzielanek
.
But the Royals got singles from
David DeJesus
and
Mark Teahen
in the sixth before Butler broke an 0-for-12 streak with his third homer to make it a three-run game. Butler added an RBI
single off
Nick Masset
in the eighth.
Royals reliever
Jimmy Gobble
replaced Peralta with a runner at first in the seventh and walked Thome before hitting Konerko with a low pitch - Royals manager
Trey Hillman argued the call - to load the bases. He walked Swisher on a 3-2 pitch to force in Chicago's eighth run, and Crede
greeted reliever Robinson Tejada with a sacrifice fly.
Kansas City got an unearned run in the first on Grudzielanek's single right after Ramirez fumbled Butler's grounder to second
for an error. Butler, however, was thrown out on the play by right fielder Dye as he tried to get to third.
Notes: Royals cleanup hitter
Jose Guillen
was a scratch with back spasms. ... Buehrle, who lost to the Royals last week in Kansas City, is 17-7 against them lifetime,
his second-most wins against any opponent behind the 21 over the
Minnesota Twins
.
|