Paul Konerko made his return back to the White Sox after sitting out with a concussion. He immediately made his presence known with a relatively hard hit ball in his first at-bat. Unfortunately, he made an out. He did come back though and hit a home run to the Royals bullpen that tied the game up.

After that, Bacon actually did something with his bat to put the Sox ahead when he hit a single to right field that scored The Cuban Missile. Unfortunately, Billy Butler would tie things up in the bottom of the sixth inning and then the PITAs would go ahead by two runs in the bottom of the seventh. That was due to a double hit by Salvador Perez when the bases were loaded. 

You have to wonder if Chris Sale still had some lingering effects from when he was hit in the hand by a come-backer off the bat of Alcides Escobar in the top of the first inning. He did battle the rest of the game that he pitched. In fact considering what could have been, he was quite good.

Unfortunately, Luis Mendoza was just better and the Sox just couldn’t get to him or the Royals bullpen. They did make it interesting in the ninth inning. After two immediate outs, AJ Pierzynski hit a double down the right field line. Then Alexei Ramirez hit a chop back up the middle that Tony Abreu just couldn’t get to first base in time to get Ramirez. Finally, Dayan Viciedo ended the game.

Interesting things in the game? Chris Sale walked  people. Jeff Francoeur walked three times. Two of those walks were intentional. The first walk that Frenchy had was his 21st of the season and only the 32nd of the season for Sale. Sale also intentionally walked Billy Butler. Chris Getz hurt himself in the game and ended his season. In a failed bunt attempt, the ball hit his left thumb. The thumb is fractured and he is scheduled for surgery tomorrow.

Bad news of the night? The Tigers won against the Orioles so the Sox now have a 1.5 game lead in the AL Central. The PITAs and Sox will go at it again.

For more on the Royals, be sure to visit Drinking the Royals Blue Aid.