|
 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."
[to top of second column] |
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."
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