Jason Kendall plated Gregor Blanco with a two-out single in the 10th inning, giving the Kansas City Royals a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Wilson Betemit hit his eighth home run of the season for the Royals, who won two of the three games of the series - all of which required extra innings.
With two outs, Blanco drew a walk from Scott Linebrink (1-1), who served up Blanco's first homer of the year on Saturday. Blanco proceeded to steal second and third base before scoring on Kendall's single to left field, giving Kansas City just its sixth win in 14 games.
Making his first relief appearance for the Royals after going 0-4 in five starts, Sean O'Sullivan (2-4) walked one in a scoreless top of the 10th for the victory.
A.J. Pierzynski gave Chicago a 1-0 edge with an RBI double in the second, but Betemit quickly knotted the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning. It was Betemit's fourth blast in his last eight games.
The Royals took a brief lead in the third as Chris Getz drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on Kendall's one-out double. The White Sox immediately answered in the fourth, when Alex Rios led off with a triple and came home on Paul Konerko's single.
Both starters pitched well but did not figure in the decision. Chicago's John Danks allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, while Kansas City's Zack Greinke yielded two runs and nine hits in eight frames while striking out nine.
Chi. White Sox | Kansas City | |
John Danks | Player | Zack Greinke |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
6.0 | IP | 8.0 |
5 | Strikeouts | 9 |
5 | Hits | 9 |
3.00 | ERA | 2.25 |
Chi. White Sox | Kansas City | |
Omar Vizquel | Player | Chris Getz |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 2 |
.667 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Chi. White Sox | 10 | 0 | 13 | .278 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Kansas City | 7 | 1 | 11 | .206 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0 |