“Because every pitch that he delivered was phenomenal”.
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Ventura pitched seven sharp innings in his first start since his fight with Manny Machado, and the Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Sunday for their second straight win following an eight-game losing streak. Ventura is appealing his nine-game suspension for his part in a brawl Tuesday with the Orioles. He struck out the side in the second inning and again in the sixth inning. Fiers (4-3) allowed two solo home runs in seven innings.
“It’s big. It was a team effort”, Duffy said. “The DH spot’s going to rotate somewhat of who you’ve got in there and who needs a day”. Salvador Perez added a leadoff homer down the left-field line in the ninth. On Saturday, the Royals got a 4-1 victory. Kansas City lost eight straight contests before bouncing back to win the final two games of the series against the White Sox. “At least we could have got one out of there, maybe put a little more pressure on them and it would have been a different story”. “(Yordano) is nasty. He’s got unbelievable stuff, and when he’s putting it where he wants to, like he was today, it’s tough on anybody”. His only mistake was allowing a solo home run to Jose Abreu in the sixth, the eighth of the season for the struggling slugger.
Davies (5-3) came into his 11th start of the season riding high – since starting the season 0-3 with an 8.78 ERA, he had gone 4-0 with 2.91 mark in his last seven and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning his last time out.
Right now the Indians lead the royals by three games in the AL central.
“Some guys have to pick it up”, manager Robin Ventura said. “He did seem to be in control. We’ll just move forward”, Yost said. J.A. Happ went seven innings. Wade Davis recorded his 17th save, matching his career high from last season.
The White Sox had two baserunners in each of the first three innings, but Brett Lawrie twice failed to drive in runners in scoring position and Garcia was picked off first base in the second. He struck out eight and walked one.
“Felt good”, Rodon said. “Just glad I was able to go six”.
Kendrys Morales also hit a home run for Kansas City.
“I see the division being pretty close the whole season”, White Sox catcher Alex Avila said. There’s been plenty of roster turnover in the last week – Mat Latos and Jimmy Rollins were jettisoned while top prospect Tim Anderson was promoted and veteran starter James Shields was acquired – but it hasn’t led to the White Sox marrying good pitching, defense and/or offense with any consistency. The White Sox perform similarly when they allow one or more homers with a 15-22 record. “You just keep looking at the positives”.
I must confess, I’m getting as frustrated as every other Kansas City Royals fan must be by now.
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Carlos Rodon (2-6) shook off a slow start and pitched six effective innings for Chicago after he was pushed back a couple days due to a sore neck. He was out of the starting lineup for the Storm Chasers’ game at New Orleans on Sunday.
