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Frazier's knockout blow in 10th lifts White Sox over Royals

[August 10, 2016] KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Todd Frazier is not hitting for a high average, .213 with 107 strikeouts, but when he makes contact it often clears the fences.

Frazier belted a three-run homer in the 10th to propel the Chicago White Sox to a 7-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

The Royals tied it in the ninth off closer David Robertson, who yielded a leadoff single to Kendrys Morales. Jarrod Dyson ran for Morales and stole second and scored on Alcides Escobar's two-out single.

Frazier untied it in the 10th by lining a first pitch offering from Kelvin Herrera over the left-field fence with Jose Abreu and Carlos Sanchez aboard for his 31st home run, which is tied for the American League lead. Sanchez was running for Justin Morneau, who had his first four-hit game of the season.

"I knew he threw hard," Frazier said of Herrera. "I knew he'd be throwing in the upper 90s. Bottom line is you saw the two at-bats before that and they both reacted to the off-speed pitches and found a way to put the bat on the ball. That's what you've got to do in that situation whether it's the first pitch or the last pitch you're hitting. When he throws you a strike with the fastball and you're on time, hopefully good things will happen and they did tonight."

The Royals could have intentionally walked the left-handed swinging Frazier with first base open and the bottom of the White Sox order coming up and set up a double play.

"We definitely thought about it. I just didn't mind the match up, the way Herrera was throwing the ball," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "They had a couple of base hits on pretty good breaking balls down in the zone (to) Abreu and Morneau, and with Frazier he just caught too much of the plate."

Dan Jennings got the final out for his first career save.

White Sox starter Chris Sale left after seven innings, giving up three runs, all in the first three innings.

"The first couple of innings I didn't feel like I was finishing really well on my off-speed pitches, especially," Sale said. "But, we got that figured out and the fastball command got better as the game went along and it was definitely a grind from pitch one."

Edinson Volquez gazed to the sky after a hitless first inning. Volquez had an 8.61 ERA in the first inning in his previous 23 starts.

"We've been working on it," Volquez said. "Finally got out of trouble in the first."

Paulo Orlando led off the Royals' first by lacing a double to left and scored on Cheslor Cuthbert's single.

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White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier (21) connects for a three run home run in the tenth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. The White Sox won 7-5. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The White Sox tied it in the third, which Tyler Saladino opened with a double. He remained at second on J.B. Shuck's infield single. Tim Anderson's sacrifice bunt advanced both runners and Saladino scored on Melky Cabrera's groundout to second baseman Raul Mondesi.

The Royals grabbed a 3-1 lead in the third with Sale giving up seven hits in the Royals' first 13 at-bats.

With one out, Cuthbert singled and moved to third on Lorenzo Cain's double to left. Eric Hosmer, who has 16 hits off Sale -- the most by any left-handed hitter -- singled them both home.

Volquez gave up five consecutive singles with two outs in the fifth as the White Sox scored three times to take a 4-3 lead.

"I made a lot of bad pitches," Volquez said. "I almost lost the game that inning, so it's my fault."

Anderson singled to start the inning and scored from first on Cabrera's single to center, running on a full-count pitch. Jose Abreu and Justin Morneau drove in the other runs in the inning.

NOTES: White Sox DH-OF Avisail Garcia went on the disabled list with a sprained right knee, which he injured Saturday. Chicago recalled OF Jason Coats from Triple-A Charlotte to fill the roster spot. Coats, who was hitting .329 with eight home runs in 65 games with Charlotte, batted .091 in a dozen games in two stints earlier this season with the White Sox. ... Royals CF Paulo Orlando batted leadoff for the first time this season. ... SS Alcides Escobar was dropped from first to eighth. ... White Sox TV announcer Ken Harrelson will miss the series at Kansas City and Miami because of illness. ... White Sox LHP Jose Quintana and Royals RHP Ian Kennedy are the Wednesday probable starters.

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