By MATT PIKE
Michael Lorenzen turned things around on the mound, Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr homered, and top prospect Jac Caglianone had a breakout game at the plate as the Kansas City Royals avoided being swept by the Chicago White Sox, winning 7-5 at Guaranteed Rate Field on Sunday afternoon.
Lorenzen's lone mistake on the mound gave the White Sox the lead in the first inning. Lorenzen walked Mike Tauchman before giving up a two run home run to Miguel Vargas with two outs to give Chicago a 2-0 lead. After the home run, Lorenzen retired 16 of the next 17 batters he faced, only walking Tim Elko in the third inning.
Kansas City tied up the game in the fourth inning. With one out, Vinnie Pasquantino singled, and was brought home the very next at bat as on the second pitch he saw, Perez hit a two run home run to left field, his fifth home run of the season, to knot the game up at 2-2.
The Royals took the lead in the seventh inning. Mark Canha pinch hit for John Rave and singled to left field. Canha advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Isbel, and was then pinch ran for by Drew Waters. Waters came in to score as Jonathan India doubled down the third base line, and India scored to extend the lead more on a single by Maikel Garcia, pushing the Kansas City lead to 4-2.
Three more insurance runs scored in the top of the ninth for the Royals, the inning starting with a walk to Waters. Waters stole second base, and advanced to third on a groundout by Isbel, before scoring on a single by India. India would score when Witt Jr hit a line drive two run home run to left center, his eighth of the year, giving the Royals a 7-2 lead.
With the save situation erased, Kansas City called on new reliever Trevor Richards to close out the game, but Richards would not record an out, loading the bases with a walk to Tauchman and back to back singles to Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi. A bases loaded walk to Vargas cut the Royals lead to four, and manager Matt Quatraro called on closer Carlos Estévez now facing a save situation.
Estévez though also struggled to contain the White Sox rally, giving up a single to Edgar Quero scoring Meidroth to cut the lead to three. Austin Slater lined out against Estévez and the Royals closer got a second out as Luis Robert Jr grounded into a force out at second, beating out the double play as Quero was out at second and Benintendi scored. Estévez reloaded the bases, walking Josh Rojas, but struck out Elko for his 19th save of the season.
With his six strong innings, Lorenzen improved to 4-6 on the season, giving up two runs on one hit, walking two and striking out seven. Caglianone was 4-for-4 on the day with a double and three singles, improving his average from .095 to .240 since being promoted. India was also 3-for-5 on the day with two RBI's and two runs scored.
Kansas City is off on Monday. They return to Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday, beginning a series looking for revenge for last year's American League Division Series, taking on the New York Yankees. Noah Cameron (2-1, 0.85 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Max Fried (8-1, 1.78 ERA) for the Yankees. First pitch is at 6:40pm, pregame coverage starts at 6 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.