In a pennant race, a team like the Chicago White Sox can hardly afford losses to lowly opponents like the Kansas City Royals, but that's exactly what happened on Friday night. In the first game of a weekend series, the White Sox fell 4-to-2 to in Kansas City to the Royals.
The Royals were able to beat White Sox ace Chris Sale, who was knocked out of the game in the bottom of the seventh when Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez smacked a two-run double to extend the Royals' lead to what would be the eventual final score. For the game, Sale gave up four earned runs over 6.2 innings while striking out five.
He was out-pitched by Royals starter Luis Mendoza, who gave up only two earned runs over the course of seven innings. Those runs came on a Paul Konerko homer and a Gordon Beckham single. Royals closer Greg Holland shut the door for his fifth save of the season.
The two teams will be back on the field on Saturday at 6:10 p.m. CT.
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