Brent Morel Single Caps White Sox Rally To Pull Out 10-7 Victory Over Royals In Extra Innings

Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel was just 5-of-19 going into his twelfth inning at bat against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday afternoon, but he came up big when it counted to help the White Sox finish the comeback with a 10-7 victory.

Morel’s line drive to right that scored Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez to cap the White Sox rally in the top of the twelfth inning was the go-ahead hit that capped off a rally that saw the White Sox trailing 6-3 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth inning.

With the win, the White Sox managed to split the series while simultaneously ending the Royals’ four-game win streak.

While Morel’s late-inning heroics were certainly clutch, the ninth-inning rally was just as impressive.

Chicago trailed 6-3 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth while facing Royals closer Joakim Soria, but he was no match for the White Sox bats as Juan Pierre singled, Gordon Beckham walked and Alex Rios ripped an RBI single off to score Pierre. After Paul Konerko singled in a run to make it 6-5, Carlos Quentin came through with a go-ahead, two-run double to give the White Sox their first lead of the game.

In the bottom of the ninth, Royals first baseman Kila Ka’aihue’s hit an RBI single off Matt Thornton to tie the game until Morel came through in the twelfth.

Adam Dunn Out As Sox Go For Split With Royals

New member of the Sox Adam Dunn will not be playing in today's series finale with the Royals, as he underwent an emergency appendectomy last evening. The procedure was laproscopic, and Dunn is expected to be out at least five days, though whether he will have to miss more time is unknown.

Mark Buehrle will make his second start of the season for the Sox today, as he goes for his 150th career win. The left-hander is 21-11 against the Royals with a 3.57 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. Of the starting Royals, one of the most dangerous for the Sox will be Melky Cabrera, who is 8-for-14 against Buehrle, with 5 RBIs.

Opposing Buehrle will be Jeff Francis. Francis has not had much success against the Sox, though he has only faced them in two games. Across those two, he is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.75 WHIP. Juan Pierre has handled Francis will over the years, going 14-for-30 with two doubles. He'll be starting at DH today for the Sox, so hopefully he'll help get things going to grab the South Siders another win.

Today's is forecasted to be a beautiful spring day in Kansas City, with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60's to low 70s. First pitch is at 1:10 P.M. CDT and the game will be televised on CSN and FSKC.