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 Adam Eaton and Tyler Flowers each belted three-run homers as the
White Sox thumped the Kansas City Royals 12-1.
Eaton and Alexei Ramirez each had four hits, matching their career
highs.
Center fielder Eaton hit a three-run shot in the five-run eighth.
Immediately after Eaton went deep off Jeremy Guthrie, first baseman
Jose Abreu homered.
The 17-hit offensive outburst gifted Danks with his seventh victory
and his first since Aug. 1.
"It's definitely a blowout, but at this point just wins," Danks
said. "To get a win while scoring 12 runs and pitching well, it's
just a fun team win.
"It was muggy, but perfect pitching weather. Thanks to the offense,
it was nice to have a big lead. I was able to stay aggressive."
Danks limited the Royals to seven hits. He lost his shutout bid in
the ninth when Alcides Escobar scored on Kendrys Morales' sacrifice
fly, his 99th RBI.
"It was a good start," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "Guys
swung the bat early. The big one was Flo's three-run homer. The way
they started off offensively was just a good approach. Anything we
hit kind of fell in.
"And Johnny threw well. He was throwing strikes and anything they
hit hard was at somebody. It's just one of those nights for us."
Right-hander Kris Medlen, who won his first two starts since
inserted into the Royals' rotation, gave up three runs in the first
inning and another three in the fourth inning before being pulled in
the sixth.
"It's baseball. It's a frustrating game," Medlen said. "You can't
get down or anything like that. A ton of effort, a ton of work goes
into each start, and I take pride in that. I did the same thing I
did last time, it's just I made three less pitches than I did the
last few starts. Tip your cap to Flowers. He fouled off some pretty
tough pitches down and in, and I hung a curveball to him. It was,
like I said, just a frustrating day overall."
The White Sox punched out four singles in the opening inning. Eaton
set the tone by singling on Medlen's first pitch. Abreu, the next
batter, also singled, moving Eaton to third.
Medlen made a nice play, snagging left fielder Melky Cabrera's high
chopper with a backhand and throwing out Eaton at the plate.
But Medlen gave up a RBI-single to right fielder Avisail Garcia and
a two-run single to shortstop Alexei Ramirez before coaxing second
baseman Carlos Sanchez to ground into an inning-ending double play.
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"He's only got a limited amount of innings," Royals manager Ned Yost
of Medlen, who sat out last season after Tommy John surgery. "He's
still building arm strength, and this was the first time for him to
get to 100 pitches, which was good.
"But when he's right, he's got a nice biting curveball that he
commands down in the zone, spots his fastball very well and can
command his changeup. For me, fastball command today was so-so, it
was okay, but the secondary stuff, just really struggled to command
it."
In the Royals' second, rookie third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert doubled
with two outs, but was thrown out by Cabrera when third base coach
Mike Jirschele waved him home on left fielder Paulo Orlando's
single.
Catcher Tyler Flowers homered in the fourth with Ramirez and Sanchez
aboard after singling. Flowers' ninth home run gave the White Sox a
6-0 lead.
NOTES: Royals 3B Mike Moustakas was out of the lineup for the fourth
consecutive game with a hamstring injury. Manager Ned Yost said he
anticipates Moustakas will return Sunday. ... Royals OF Alex Rios
and RHP Kelvin Herrera, who have chicken pox, worked out early at
Kauffman Stadium and exited before the rest of the players arrived.
... The White Sox are 24-26 in one-run games, having the most
one-run decisions this season in the majors. ... Willie Reed, who
signed with the NBA Brooklyn Nets in July and went to Bishop Miege
High School in the Kansas City area, threw out the ceremonial first
pitch. ... LHPs Jose Quintana of the White Sox and Danny Duffy of
the Royals are the pitching probables Saturday.
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reserved.]
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