By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals dropped a high scoring affair with the Chicago White Sox, losing 14-11, as Chase Meidroth hit a three-run home run and had a career-high five RBIs at Kauffman Stadium.
Randal Grichuk also added a three run home run for Chicago while Brenton Doyle hit a solo home run and Munetaka Murakami blasted a two run home run for his 33rd of the season for the White Sox. Nick Loftin and Vinnie Pasquantino each homered for Kansas City for the six total home runs hit in the series opener between the two teams.
Daniel Lynch IV,. now 6-6 on the season, made his worst start of the season since joining the Royals rotation last month. Lynch allowed a career-worst nine earned runs in just four innings for Kansas City, striking out two and walking three while giving up seven hits, before being relieved by Tony Gonsolin, making his Royals debut after being signed last month and being activated from the injured list on Monday.
In the first inning, Lynch walked Tommy Pham, gave up a single to Grichuk, and hit Murakami with a pitch, before Meidroth hit a two-run single to give the White Sox the lead. Doyle hit his solo shot in the second inning, and Meidroth added his three run home run in the third to give Chicago a 6-0 lead. Loftin's solo home run came in the bottom of the third, but in the fourth Grichuk blasted his three run home run to continue piling the runs on for the White Sox.
In the bottom of the fourth, Salvador Perez drove in Maikel Garcia with an RBI single and Loftin grounded out scoring Pasquantino, starting a rally for the Royals to cut the White Sox lead to 9-3. A ground out by Garcia in the fifth added one more run, bringing home Carter Jensen. In the seventh though, Chicago pulled away more with a five run inning, starting with Murakami's two run home run. A bases loaded walk to Miguel Vargas added another run and a two RBI single from Andrew Benintindi capped the scoring.
The Royals scored seven runs over the final two innings, attempting to comeback. A double from Pasquantinon in the eighth scored Jac Caglianone and a sacrifice fly by Josh Rojas added another run bringing home Garcia. Pasquantino came home on an RBI double from Michael Massey, trimming the White Sox lead to 14-7. In the ninth, Pasquantino hit a grand slam, with one out, to put the Royals down by three, following the home run Rojas and Massey flew out to end the game.
The series continues tomorrow. Seth Lugo (7-9, 5.06 ERA, 131Ks) starts for the Royals against Bryan Hudson (5-4, 3.03 ERA, 59Ks) for the White Sox. First pitch is at 6:40pm, pregame will air at 6pm on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
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