The Chicago White Sox took a late lead over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night, but a familiar face spoiled the party as Melky Cabrera’s home run sent the Sox to a 5-4 defeat.
Cabrera, who was traded by the White Sox to Kansas City before the MLB trade deadline, smacked a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning off of Aaron Bummer, and Joakim Soria and Kelvin Herrera slammed the door to snap the Sox winning streak.
Jose Abreu clubbed a pair of home runs, and Leury Garcia drove in a pair of runs in the losing effort. James Shields also set a season-high for strikeouts, fanning eight Royals in six innings of work for the White Sox.
Shields got off to a quick start as he fanned the first two batters of the game, but Eric Hosmer continued his strong play of late as he drilled a solo home run over the left field wall to give the Royals a first inning lead.
An Alcides Escobar triple and a Whitt Merrifield single extended the Royals’ lead to 3-0 after the top of the second, but then the White Sox slowly began to chip away. Abreu hit a home run to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning, and in the bottom of the sixth he hit another one, his 21st of the year, to trim the Royals’ lead to one run.
Leury Garcia gave the White Sox the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning when he stepped up with men on base. He slapped a single to center field, scoring Tim Anderson and Omar Narvaez to give the Sox a 4-3 lead.
Unfortunately for the Sox, they couldn’t hold on. With Lorenzo Cain on, Cabrera blasted a home run to center field, giving the Royals back a lead that they would not relinquish.
Chicago Baseball
The two teams will wrap up their series on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field when they send Derek Holland to the hill against Jason Vargas.
