After Sosa was retired on a shallow flyball, Josh Harrison poked a grounder through the 3B-SS hole to score another run. But he was unable to field the hot shot as it squirted past him, allowing two runs to score. Sheets smoked a curveball that came off the bat at 106.1 mph right at Michael Massey. Abreu lead off the inning with a single and after Bubic retired Vaughn, he walked Yoán Moncada and Grandal singled to load the bases. The game proceeded scoreless for the next few innings, with plenty of traffic on the bases for both teams but neither able to break through. The ball dropped in and Isbel cruised home with the game’s first run. A good defensive left fielder may have had a play on it, but fortunately Chicago had Vaughn playing out there. He got a 3-1 cutter right down Broadway and ripped it into left field. Nicky Lopez followed with a pop-up before Melendez drew a four pitch walk, with ball four being very borderline. With one out, Kyle Isbel bounced one past Abreu down the right field line for a double. Kansas City drew first blood in the third inning.
It’s a good thing a fast runner wasn’t at third base on that lineout, because Melendez initially appeared to think he caught the third out of the inning and started toward the infield with his head down. He managed to escape the jam thanks to a soft lineout by Gavin Sheets and a strikeout of Lenyn Sosa. Bubic then loaded the bases with one out via walks to Andrew Vaughn and Yasmani Grandal. He hung a changeup away to José Abreu and Abreu did exactly what one should do on such a pitch: let it travel and blast it the other way for a leadoff double.
The second inning stood in stark contrast to the first as Bubic’s command abandoned him. 920 xBA) and Salvador Perez grounded into a double play on his first pitch. flew out on the first pitch (he crushed it to center and just missed a homer. MJ Melendez lined Cueto’s second pitch into right for a leadoff single, but Bobby Witt Jr.
Kris Bubic struck out Josh Harrison on three pitches, then retired Luis Robert and Eloy Jiménez on groundouts, finishing the inning with eight pitches thrown. The first inning was one of the quickest innings you’ll ever see in a big league game. Kansas City’s offense came to life late and Chicago had no answer as the Royals cruised to an 8-3 victory.
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