Bobby Witt Jr. went 4-for-5 and drilled a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning as the visiting Kansas City Royals defeated the White Sox 8-5 on Monday, sending Chicago to a single-season, franchise-record 15th straight loss.
Kansas City erupted for six runs in the eighth, sending nine batters to the plate against White Sox relievers Steven Wilson and John Brebbia.
Hunter Renfroe and MJ Melendez started the rally with one-out solo shots to get the Royals within 5-4. Maikel Garcia singled with two outs before Brebbia entered.
Adam Frazier was hit by a pitch and Michael Massey walked to load the bases for Witt, who belted the first pitch he saw from Brebbia (0-6) over the left-center-field fence.
Kansas City improved to 10-1 against Chicago this season. The White Sox have now lost 41 games in which they held a lead at one point here in 2024.
Luis Robert Jr. had three hits, Andrew Vaughn homered and starter Chris Flexen pitched six sharp innings for the White Sox, who were up 5-2 after seven innings.
Flexen was in line for his first victory since May 8 before the bullpen meltdown. Although the right-hander matched a season high by yielding nine hits, he effectively pitched out of jams, surrendering just two runs. Flexen didn’t issue a walk and struck out two.
Gavin Sheets hit a first-inning RBI single to put the White Sox ahead 1-0.
Kansas City scored one run in both the third and fourth innings to take a 2-1 lead. In the third, the Royals capitalized on a throwing error by White Sox catcher Chuckie Robinson to get their first run.
After making two quick outs against Flexen to begin the fourth, Kansas City used a Garcia double and a Kyle Isbel RBI single to move in front.
Robert hit a game-tying RBI single in the fifth. Andrew Benintendi had a run-scoring double and Paul DeJong had an RBI single in the sixth before Vaughn went deep in the seventh to give the White Sox their 5-2 edge.
Chris Stratton (3-3) pitched 1 2/3 innings of one-run relief for Kansas City. James McArthur worked a perfect ninth for his 18th save of the season.
Royals starter Alec Marsh gave up two runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Vinnie Pasquantino, Salvador Perez, Melendez and Garcia each had two hits for the Royals.
–Field Level Media
