Andrew Vaughn belted a tie-breaking three-run home run in the seventh inning as the Chicago White Sox defeated the visiting Kansas City Royals 7-3 on Wednesday afternoon to end an eight-game losing streak.
Jake Burger added a homer for the White Sox.
Chicago scored four unanswered runs after the Royals’ Whit Merrifield tied the game 3-3 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. Vaughn connected on the first pitch he saw from Royals right-hander Scott Barlow, who entered after Collin Snider (2-1) allowed consecutive two-out singles.
Bennett Sousa (1-0) notched the win after pitching just two-thirds of an inning, before Kendall Graveman struck out four to notch a two-inning save, his first.
Early dominance from right-hander Dylan Cease and an opportunistic attack helped stake the White Sox to a 3-0 lead after five innings.
Royals right-hander Zack Greinke yielded single runs to Chicago in the second, third and fourth innings. Reese McGuire put the White Sox on the board first with a run-scoring sacrifice fly before Vaughn delivered an RBI double in the third and Burger homered in the fourth, his second.
Cease retired the first 13 Kansas City batters before he walked Carlos Santana with one out in the fifth inning.
Edward Olivares spoiled Cease’s no-hit bit with an infield single leading off the sixth, which helped spur the Royals to a two-run rally, featuring RBI singles from Merrifield and Andrew Benintendi.
Cease fanned Hunter Dozier with the bases loaded to end the sixth-inning threat and preserve a 3-2 Chicago lead.
Cease struck out nine in his six innings while allowing two runs and three hits with three walks.
Greinke scattered three runs and five hits in six innings with no walks and four strikeouts.
Burger finished with three hits, while Vaughn and Tim Anderson added two hits each for the White Sox out of the top two spots in the order. McGuire brought home another run in the eighth inning when he grounded into a double play.
Adalberto Mondesi missed his first game of the season for Kansas City. He exited with left knee discomfort in the sixth inning of Monday’s 6-0 victory.
–Field Level Media
