Lance Lynn got off to a great start on the mound and the top five hitters in the White Sox line up to jointly hold a 9–20 lead as Chicago beat Kansas City 4–1.
Lynn did not look like a struggling pitcher in the early stages, retiring the first six batsmen on 24 pitches via four strikeouts and two groundouts. Meanwhile, Brady Singer was quickly in trouble, struggling with his spot and surrendering a series of solid line drives in the center, leading to a first inning run for the White Sox. He was on his way to an efficient second innings with two outs and a 1-2 count on Adam Engel when it started raining, delaying the game.
The delay lasted just over an hour (an hour and five minutes according to my timing). Singer was sent back outside, bowled two pitches to retire Engel, then went back into the dugout to sit down once more. The delay did not benefit his pitch location. While he was running with none, he was leaving a lot of hitchable pitches on the plate, surrendering 11 hits but still putting out six painstaking innings. The dagger came in the third, when Jose Abreu detonated a three-run dinger to give Chicago a 4-0 lead. It looked like Singer’s day would end in fifth when he surrendered three consecutive singles to load the base, but he escaped by punching Yoan Moncada and receiving a double play from AJ Pollock.
Lin was close to the Untouchable. They defeated eight Royals and only Michael Massey and Bobby Witt Jr. had any breakthrough against them, each hitting a couple of hits. Kansas City eventually broke through to sixth when Witt cranked a hanging curveball for a single homer, but the White Sox could manage nothing else against the starter.
The Chicago bullpen took over for Lynn in the seventh, and the Royals’ hitters had little trouble settling. Jake Dieckman, Kendall Graveman and Liam Hendrix combined for three shutout innings with six strikeouts and just one baserunner allowed. Luke Weaver made his Royals debut and scored two runs in the eighth innings. Royals batsmen named Bobby or Michael Massey combined for a combined 0-27 with walks and 12 strikes.
The defeat drops the Royals to 41-64, half a game behind Detroit in the AL Central standings. This is the seventh time in the last nine games that Kansas City have scored two or fewer runs, and only five runs in this series. The Royals will fly home for a set of four matches against Boston starting tomorrow night.
Brady Singer – 6IP, 11H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 3K, 1HR
Lance Lynn – 6 IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 8K, 1HR
Bobby Witt Jr. – 2-4, HR, RBI, R
Jose Abreu – 2-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
