By MATT PIKE
Vinnie Pasquantino departed the game early due to a heat related illness, but John Rave stepped in and stepped up in his place, helping the Kansas City Royals to a series clinching win over the Chicago White Sox, winning 6-2 on a hot Saturday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.
It was Mike Yastrzemski though that gave the Royals the lead first, leading off the Kansas City half of the first inning with a solo home run, his 11th of the season to right center field. Bobby Witt Jr singled and stole second in the inning, but three straight outs following the steal ended the inning with just the lone run scored.
In the second inning, Kansas City extended their lead with another one run inning. Randal Grichuk led off with a double, and Nick Loftin walked, before Kyle Isbel reached first on a fielders choice, scoring Grichuk. In the third inning, Rave came through after Witt Jr struck out to begin the inning, hitting his fourth home run of the season to push the Royals lead to 3-0.
In the fifth inning, Kansas City continued their scoring frenzy pushing their lead ahead more with two more runs. Yastrzemski walked to lead off the inning and with one out Rave singled on a bunt, both coming home to score on Maikel Garcia's 32nd double of the season that pushed the Royals lead to 5-0.
Kansas City scored their final run in the sixth inning, an RBI single by Loftin driving in Adam Frazier after his leadoff single to the inning. In the eighth inning with two outs the White Sox scored both their runs on a two RBI double from former Royal Andrew Benintendi, scoring Colson Montgomery who doubled with two outs and Luis Robert Jr who walked.
Daniel Lynch earned the win in relief, improving to 5-2 on the season, pitching two innings and giving up just one hit. In his first start since returning from the injured list, Michael Lorenzen took a no decision pitching four innings while giving up three hits and striking out three while walking two.
At the plate, Rave was 2-for-3 with the home run and one RBI. Grichuk was also 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored. Yastrzemski's lone hit on the day was the solo home run to lead off the game, going 1-for-3, walking once and scoring two runs with one RBI.
Kansas City and Chicago wrap up their series tomorrow. Ryan Bergert (1-1, 2.87 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Davis Martin (4-9, 4.17 ERA) for the White Sox. First pitch is at 1:10pm with pregame coverage beginning at 12:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.