The Royals managed two hits by Mike Moustakas and singles by Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar to match their third-lowest total in a game.
Advertisement
The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
According to CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes, Cain is merely day-to-day at this point after suffering a right knee contusion.
“(Quintana) was great, outstanding, you can use all of them”, Ventura said. The Royals have scored seven runs in their last three games and four or more runs in five of their last 10 games.
Cain completed his seventh-inning at-bat, grounding out third base, before he was replaced by Jarrod Dyson for defense in the bottom of the inning.
The Royals also pulled within one game of the Blue Jays for the best record in the AL and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Johnny Cueto delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Tuesday, September 29, 2015, in Chicago.
“I try to be an in-game guy and adjust to how I’m throwing”, he said. “It’s not that big a deal but it’s enough to go in and fix it”, Ventura said. Luke Hochevar allowed a home run to Jose Abreu leading off the seventh.
David Robertson pitched the ninth inning for Chicago, which added a run in the eighth on Alexei Ramirez’s RBI double, to earn his 33rd save in 40 opportunities.
The season series between these two intradivisional pseudo-rivals was previously colored by an ugly bench-clearing incident that led to a slew of suspensions, including tonight’s starter for the Pail Hoes, Jeff Samardzija, who seemed intent on playing the part of instigator from Jump Street.
A team fighting for its season likely wouldn’t hand the ball to a struggling Jeremy Guthrie for a start down the stretch or let backup catcher Drew Butera, a almost non-existent threat at the plate, play first base in more than one game while Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez got a few rest.
Samardzija fired a one-hitter for his second shutout of the year last Monday in a 2-0 victory at Detroit after losing eight of his previous nine outings.
With his home run Wednesday, Abreu joined Albert Pujols (2001-02) and Ryan Braun (2007-08) as the only players in baseball history to hit 30 or more home runs in each of their first two seasons.
Advertisement
The White Sox stranded two more in the fifth inning, another in the sixth and two in the eighth. “We thought we had a chance there to get him one”. Up next came Kendrys Morales, who reached for an outside splitter and blasted it over the left-center-field wall.
