After getting shellacked 10-4 in Wednesday night’s game for their second straight loss, the Chicago White Sox had to be thinking, “Just who the hell are these Royals players and where have they been all season?”
Dropping two consecutive games to Kansas City doesn’t do much for morale, so fans had to wonder if the Sox would get up for tonight’s matchup so they could at least split a series with a team they should’ve swept. And they almost didn’t even do that.
The game got off to a history-making start in which the Royals’ David DeJesus and the Sox’ Pablo Ozuna hit leadoff home runs in the first inning, then the Royals’ Emil Brown and Sox’ Jermaine Dye got leadoff homers in the second, the first time that’s ever happened in Major League play.
The Sox broke the 2-2 tie in the third inning when a Jim Thome groundout drove in Sandy Alomar Jr. from third base. The South Siders added another run in the sixth when Paul Konerko brought in Tadahito Iguchi with a single.
However, the Royals kicked off a rally that started in the eighth inning with a homer from Mark Teahen—who has given the Sox some serious fits this season—and extended into the ninth when Ryan Shealy plated on a double from DeJesus. After he got to second, shortstop Juan Uribe shook his head and muttered, “Jesus.”
“You said it, man,” DeJesus replied. “Nobody (expletive deleted) with DeJesus.”
Sox closer Bobby Jenks then walked Mark Grudzielanek to load the bases with the score 5-4 and just one out. Miraculously, Mike Sweeney, the next batter for Kansas City, grounded into a double play. So ended a bizarre series in which the Royals, the only team with fewer than 100 home runs in the league right now, out-homered the Sox, the team with the most by far, by an eight-to-five margin.
Number of the Night: 2
Career dingers for Ozuna after tonight’s game.
