Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Chicago White Sox

27-72, 10-38 Away

Final
1 - 7

Kansas City Royals

53-45, 32-18 Home

Witt’s homer and Wacha’s seven scoreless innings lead Royals over White Sox, 7-1

Witt drove Chris Flexen’s inside fastball above the left field bullpen in the first inning for his 17th homer.

“I was just trying to be on time with the heater,” Witt said. “Whenever I’m on time, I feel like good things happen.”

Royals manager Matt Quatraro liked what he saw.

“It was nice to see — a fastball on the inner part of the plate — him turn on it, get us going and get himself going,” he said.

Witt added an RBI in the third on the second of his three hits for a 2-0 lead. Since June 24, he has hit safely in 17 of 19 games, batting .403 with 12 extra-base hits.

Wacha (7-6) induced inning-ending double plays with runners at third in the first and third innings.

“Big-time double plays to get me out of those jams,” Wacha said. “It took a little bit to kind of find a groove. Just getting that command back on those pitches after the (All-Star break) layoff will be key.”

Wacha struck out seven while allowing four hits and a walk, and is 6-2 in his last 10 starts, surrendering no more than three earned runs in each.

“Overall, the results were great,” Wacha said. “I felt like I was able to make pitches when I needed to, get some strikeouts when I needed to.”

It was a tough night for White Sox hitters.

“Wacha’s very difficult to hit, especially when he’s got his changeup going,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said.

Michael Massey’s two-out, two-run single highlighted the Royals’ five-run fifth. Kansas City has won five of its last seven.

“Massey’s hit was the difference,” Quatraro said. “But just one good at-bat after another.”

Flexen (2-9) walked four and hit a batter in the fifth. He threw 4 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs on four hits and five walks. In 13 starts since last winning May 8, he is 0-6.

“Obviously fell apart at the end,” Flexen said. “Kind of lost the feel there. The walks are inexcusable.”

Chicago’s Korey Lee homered in the eighth, his ninth.

Brooks Baldwin singled in his first at-bat in his major league debut, as the White Sox lost their fifth straight.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: Placed RHP Michael Soroka on the 15-day Injured List (retroactive to July 16) with a right shoulder strain.

Royals: Placed OF MJ Melendez on the 10-day Injured List (retroactive to July 15) with a left ankle sprain.

TRANSACTIONS

White Sox: signed free agent IF Nick Senzel, selected the contract of IF Brooks Baldwin, and recalled C Chuckie Robinson and RHP Steven Wilson, from Triple-A Charlotte, optioned IF Lenyn Sosa to Charlotte, and designated C Martin Maldonado and IF Danny Mendick for assignment, outrighting Mendick to Charlotte.

Royals: Recalled OF Drew Waters from Triple-A Omaha and designated RHP Nick Anderson for assignment.

White Sox right-hander Jonathan Cannon (1-3, 4.41 ERA) opposes Royals right-hander Brady Singer (5-6, 3.20).

How can I watch Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City Royals?

TV Channel: White Sox at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on Bally Sports KC.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Royals: 74.6%

White Sox: 25.4%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Senzel lined out to right.
	9th Inning	Jiménez singled to center, Benintendi to third.
	9th Inning	Vaughn flied out to second.
	9th Inning	Robert Jr. struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Benintendi singled to center.
	9th Inning	Marsh relieved Stratton

Statistics

CHW		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	1
16	Ground Balls	10
9	Strikeouts	6
1	Runs Batted In	7
0	Sacrifice Hit	2
7	Hits	7
1	Stolen Bases	1
1	Walks	5
0	Catcher Interference	0
1	Runs	7
2	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	1
32	At Bats	28
1	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
11	Runners Left On Base	8
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	1
1	Doubles	0
7	Fly Balls	15
0	Caught Stealing	0
135	Pitches	149
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
11	Total Bases	10
33	Plate Appearances	37
162.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
2	Extra Base Hits	1
2.0	Runs Created	4.8
.219	Batting Average	.250
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.344	Slugging Percentage	.357
.188	Secondary Average	.321
.242	On Base Percentage	.371
.586	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.729
2.3	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.7
2.0	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	5.4
17.0	Batter Rating	39.0
32.0	At Bats Per Home Run	28.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
4.09	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.03
.125	Isolated Power	.107
0.11	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.83
.030	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.135
-.031	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.071
2.0	Runs Produced	14.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.3
71.0	MLB Rating	85.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0