White Sox bust Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera to Beat Royals

Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera failed for the first time since June, giving up 3 runs in a 7th inning disaster that cost the Kansas City Royals a 7-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox Tuesday night.

Chicago’s Conor Gillaspie hit a triple with the bases loaded in the 7th inning to plate 3 runs, wiping out a 5-4 Kansas City lead.

aThe loss drops Kansas City to 14 games over .500 at 82-68. The Royals squandered a chance to gain ground the the Tigers, who lost 4-3 to the Twins after Joe Nathan blew yet another save by allowing a 2 run rally in the 9th. Kansas City remains 1.5 games behind the Tigers in the A.L. Central.

On the Mound

Liam Hendriks made his 2nd straight start in place of Danny Duffy, and struggled once again. Hendriks only lasted 3.0 innings, allowing 7 hits, 1 walk, and 4 runs with 3 strikeouts. Hendriks left the game leading 3-2.

Jason Frasor inherited a bases loaded, no out situation when he entered in the 4th inning. Frasor allowed two sacrifice flies that scored 2 runs.

Scott Downs notched the final out of the 4th and the 1st out of the 5th inning in a scoreless outing.

Casey Coleman finished off the 5th by getting the final 2 outs.

Brandon Finnegan continued to impress in the 6th, getting 2 outs including 1 strikeout along with a single.

Kelvin Herrera gave up a walk before nailing down the final out in the 6th. Herrera left after getting 1 out in the 7th, with runners on 1st and 3rd after allowing 2 singles to start the inning.

Louis Coleman pitched a clean inning in the 8th. He also pitched into the 9th, recording 2 outs and allowing 1 hit.

Francisley Bueno came in to get the final out in the 9th on a strikeout.

At the Plate

Mike Moustakas got the Royals going with a 1-out RBI single with the bases loaded in the 2nd. Salvador Perez scored to tie the game at 1-1, but Eric Hosmer got thrown out at home plate on a strong throw from Avisail Garcia.

Kansas City took a brief lead in the 3rd when Alex Gordon singled with the bases loaded to drive in 2 runs.

Alex Gordon tied up the game in the 5th, leading off the inning with a walk, stole second, advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch, and scored on Omar Infante‘s sacrifice fly.

Kansas City took the lead on Nori Aoki‘s RBI single to center in the 6th, driving in Alcides Escobar from 2nd. Esc0bar singled and stole 2nd base to get into scoring position.

Nori Aoki continued to swing a hot bat, going 4 for 5, with 4 singles, 1 run scored, and 1 RBI.

Overall, the Royals slapped 8 singles, and drew 7 walks.

This and That

The White Sox have the 2nd highest bullpen ERA in the American League (4.36), and the fewest strikeouts.

Royals teammates Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis are the first pair of relievers to have scoreless streaks of 30 innings or more for the same team since 1974 (when the statistic first kept).

Conor Gillaspie‘s 3-run triple in the 7th ended both Herrera’s (31.1) and Davis’ (32.1) scoreless streaks.

Adam Eaton robbed Eric Hosmer of a single in the 7th inning with a diving catch in short centerfield.

Tuesday’s game marked the first time in Royals history they used 9 pitchers in a 9-inning game.

Last night’s miserable loss was the longest 9-inning game in team history at 4 hours and 17 minutes.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Our award goes to Nori Aoki, who not only went 4 for 5 in Tueday’s game, he has also hit safely in 8 out of 9 at bats in the first two games of this series.