Kansas City 5, Chi. White Sox 3
When: 8:10 PM ET, Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Where: U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago, Illinois
Temperature:
57°
Umpires:
Home -
Angel Hernandez, 1B -
Chris Conroy, 2B -
Ted Barrett, 3B -
Adam Hamari
Attendance:
12818
By The Sports Xchange
CHICAGO -- A two-run homer in the 10th inning by Eric Hosmer gave the Kansas City Royals the win they needed Wednesday night to secure home-field advantage in the American League Division Series.
The bigger news, however, was the health status center fielder Lorenzo Cain, who fouled a ball hard off his right knee during the seventh inning of the Royals' 5-3 victory. Cain, who hits third, left the game with a contusion on his right knee and is day-to-day. The Royals had X-rays taken and they came back negative for fractures.
"You're always a little worried when you see it hit him in the knee like that," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "If it hit him in the shin, you don't worry about it as much. If it hits him in the thigh, you know it hurts, but when it gets right on top of the knee, I mean it worries you a little bit."
It was a relief for Yost, Cain and the rest of the Royals upon hearing the results of the x-rays. Yost said there's even a chance Cain might play Thursday in the series finale, but only if he's not experiencing much pain.
As for the game Wednesday, Kansas City ended a four-game losing streak against the White Sox by breaking a 3-3 tie with two outs in the top of the 10th. Hosmer launched a two-run blast to right field off Chicago closer David Robertson (6-5) for his second homer in as many games and the Royals' fifth in the first two games of this series.
Wade Davis pitched a scoreless inning to close the game out in the 10th for his 15th save and second since taking over the closer's role for injured Greg Holland.
"It's good to get the win to play at home in the first round (of the playoffs)," Davis said. "You never know what's going to happen past that. The only thing we know for sure is that we're going to be in the first round, and it's nice to play it in front of our fans (to start out)."
Kansas City also got homers Wednesday by Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas to lead 3-1 in the seventh. The Royals' usually-stellar bullpen coughed up the lead by allowing runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth to force extra innings.
Chicago first baseman Jose Abreu hit a solo homer off right-hander Luke Hochevar in the seventh to make it 3-2 and the White Sox knotted it 3-3 in the eighth on two hits and a throwing error by Royals catcher Salvador Perez.
Catcher Tyler Flowers, who went 4-for-4, drove in the tying run with a ground-rule double off right-hander Kelvin Herrera.
The late runs allowed by Royals relievers spoiled a strong outing by right-hander Edinson Volquez, who allowed only one run in six innings. White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana was also granted a no-decision by the late rally, after allowing three runs and striking out eight in nine innings.
All three runs against Quintana came off the homers by Gordon and Moustakas. Quintana made his final start of the season and finishes with just nine wins despite another seasons chalk full of quality starts and impressive secondary numbers."
"I haven't helped him out," Robertson said. "I've blown a couple of his games, so he should have 10. It's unfortunate. I wish I would have been better at my job, so that he had 10 wins, but his innings, his ERA, strikeouts, walks ... everything shows he's a quality pitcher and he gets the job done."
Abreu's homer was his 30th. After hitting 36 as a rookie last season, the Cuban-born slugger became just the third player in major league history to hit at least 30 in each of his first two seasons. The other two: Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun.
If Abreu drives in one more run in the season's final four games, he'll join Pujols as the only two players in major league history to hit 30 homers and have 100 RBIs in their first two MLB seasons.
"We'll get him one more RBI," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "He was pretty happy with his home run and he should be. He should be proud of that. Anytime you start saying there's only one other guy that's done something, it's impressive. For as long as people have been around doing this game, it's quite an accomplishment."
The night's biggest storyline, however, became Cain with one big swing he took in the seventh. The ball hit his bat and ricocheted hard off his right knee.
After dropping to the ground in agony, Cain was attended to by the Royals' athletic trainer. He eventually got to his feet and finished the at-bat by grounding to third. He jogged slowly up the first-base line and made it about halfway before slowing even more and limping toward the dugout.
Cain was immediately replaced by Paulo Orlando, who entered the game in right field.
NOTES: Royals manager Ned Yost shook up his batting order for the second game of the series against the White Sox. He put SS Alcides Escobar back into the leadoff spot despite a .258 batting average coming into the game. Escobar doesn't get on base as much as 2B Ben Zobrist, who was leading off, but the Royals went just 10-17 since Yost moved Escobar to the bottom of the order. "You know, there's no statistical reason why it works," Yost said. "It just works. We went all the way to the World Series with (him leading off) last year. So the idea is to get back on the winning track." ... White Sox 2B prospect Micah Johnson will undergo a minor surgical procedure on his left knee. It's unknown at this point when Johnson will be able to resume baseball activities in the offseason. ... White Sox rookie OF Trayce Thompson hit cleanup Tuesday against the Royals. "It's probably putting something on him, seeing what he can do with it," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. "There are different pressures when you're batting that high in the lineup."
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Kansas City |
|
Chi. White Sox |
Edinson Volquez
|
Player |
Jose Quintana
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
6.0 |
IP |
9.0 |
5 |
Strikeouts |
8 |
9 |
Hits |
5 |
1.50 |
ERA |
3.00 |
Team Stats Summary