Kansas City Royals vs Chicago White Sox Box Score on Sep 23, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 23, 2017

CHICAGO -- Left-hander Danny Duffy pitched six-plus strong innings to finally solve a familiar foe, helping the Kansas City Royals to an 8-2 win against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.

Duffy kept Kansas City's faint American League wild-card hopes alive, pitching into the seventh inning and allowing two runs on two hits with two strikeouts and two walks. He was 0-3 with a 9.56 ERA in three earlier starts against the White Sox this season, yielding at least five runs each time.

Whit Merrifield smacked a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning to break things open for Kansas City (76-78). The White Sox (62-92) struggled to mount an attack after Jose Abreu hit an RBI single against Duffy (9-9) in the first inning. Abreu added a run-scoring groundout in the seventh for his club-leading 100th RBI. Abreu joined Joe DiMaggio and Albert Pujols as the only players with at least 25 home runs and 100 RBIs in their first four major league seasons.

White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey (0-7) retired the first seven Royals he faced before Kansas City shortstop Alcides Escobar singled with one out in the third inning. Greater trouble surfaced one inning later as the Royals erased an early one-run deficit with a two-out rally in the fourth.

Salvador Perez doubled to score Eric Hosmer from first base before Perez scored on a Mike Moustakas single. Alex Gordon added to the lead in the fifth, hitting an opposite-field, solo home run against Covey with one out.

Covey was making his 17th career major league appearance and 11th start, all this season. Covey spaced three runs, five hits, three strikeouts and one walk in six innings, his longest outing since also working six innings in a May 18 no-decision at Seattle.

The White Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, but left-hander Scott Alexander pitched out of the jam, sandwiching two strikeouts around the Abreu groundout.

Kansas City remained 4 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the second AL wild card spot while pulling even with Anaheim. Texas, playing late at Oakland, was one-half game ahead of the Royals when Saturday's game ended.

The Royals erased an early one-run deficit with a two-out rally in the fourth inning. Perez doubled to plate Hosmer from first base before Perez scored on Moustakas' single. Gordon added to the lead in the fifth inning with his home run against Covey with one out.

Chicago opened the scoring in the first inning as Abreu smacked an RBI single that scored Yoan Moncada.

NOTES: Royals C Salvador Perez returned to the lineup after leaving Friday's game as a precautionary measure when he was hit by a foul tip. "It was more his neck got a little sore last night, a little stiff," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "But he's fine." ... White Sox SS Tim Anderson extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games when he singled to lead off the fourth inning. ... White Sox LHP Carlos Rodon, out for the remainder of the season with an injured throwing shoulder, said the club still is working to determine the extent of his injury. Rodon said he could not answer whether offseason shoulder surgery could be a possibility.