The White Sox beat the Royals 6-5 on April 6, handing Kansas City a second one-run loss to Chicago in as many days and sending the Royals back to the bottom of the AL Central. Randal Grichuk was not the headliner in a game full of swings, but Chicago’s lineup kept finding just enough room to survive a late Kansas City push.
Seth Lugo needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning, and the White Sox took control in the second when Jarred Kelenic singled and scored on Peters’ double to make it 2-0. Chase Meidroth added a sacrifice fly in the third, and the Royals were staring at a 3-0 deficit before their offense finally woke up in the fourth.
Kansas City answered with three consecutive walks to load the bases, then Nick Loftin lifted a sacrifice fly to bring in Maikel Garcia. Vinnie Pasquantino followed with a single that scored two runs and tied the game, a rally that briefly changed the feel of the afternoon. But the White Sox kept coming back. Noah Schultz walked Garcia in the fifth and left the game fairly early, then Colson Montgomery singled, Andrew Benintendi walked and Kelenic doubled in two more runs to restore Chicago’s lead.
The Royals never fully stopped fighting, but they also never got the clean inning they needed. Carter Jensen, pinch hitting for Diaz, singled in the seventh before Chicago answered with a solo home run on the first pitch from Schreiber to open a 6-3 lead. That margin looked big enough until the ninth, when Jensen hustled for a double, Garcia moved him to third and Bobby Witt Jr. drove a home run to left center to pull Kansas City within one.
Jensen’s late work gave the Royals a final chance, but Caglianone pinch hit for Lane Thomas and struck out, ending the comeback at the edge of the plate. The White Sox took the series from Kansas City and left the Royals at 5 under, with another narrow loss that fit an ugly pattern: road trouble, missed chances with runners in scoring position and little margin against left-handed pitching. The Royals were trying to avoid a sweep the next day, but this game made clear how thin that path had become.
