Heath Fillmyer wastes Royals’ early offensive outburst in loss to the White Sox

Royals rookie Heath Fillmyer stood stock-still several paces behind the mound at Guaranteed Rate Field on Sunday, watching as White Sox catcher Omar Narváez scored his team’s sixth run of the fourth inning on a homer.

Over in the third-base dugout, the White Sox celebrated their roaring comeback.

Fillmyer had caused this scene. He had squandered a six-run lead in a span of 31 pitches, failing to retire a soul as Chicago sent six batters to the plate and allowing a trio of homers. He would not shoulder the statistical burden of the Royals’ eventual 7-6 loss to the White Sox in the rubber match of a three-game series, but he would be the culprit.

“Balls started carrying into the middle of the zone, guys were hitting them and capitalizing,” Fillmyer said. “It hurt me.”

Fillmyer had flown through his first trip down the White Sox order. He retired eight consecutive hitters after allowing a single and a four-pitch walk with one out in the first inning. He was in command of his fastball, relying on it for called strikes and everything in between. He pounded the strike zone and attacked hitters. He did not appear like a rookie overwhelmed by circumstance.

But Fillmyer’s control slipped away in the fourth. José Abreu scooped a curveball out from below the strike zone for a single. Daniel Palka, after fouling off three different pitches in a 3-2 count, followed with his own single. Then Avisaíl García turned a belt-high fastball thrown in on his hands into a three-run homer to cleave the Royals’ lead to 6-3.

Two batters later, after Nicky Delmonico singled, Tim Anderson lined a two-run homer to right field.

That brought up Narváez, who later ripped an RBI single off Royals reliever Brian Flynn to put the White Sox ahead in the sixth inning, and Fillmyer’s subsequent exit.

“My mindset was OK, it’s 6-3, go ahead, calm down a little bit here and make some pitches and get us through the inning,” manager Ned Yost said. “They were all quick strikes from that point on. They didn’t mount an offensive attack. It was boom, home run. Boom, home run. By the time I could get somebody up (in the bullpen) the game was tied.”

Not counting a rain-shortened start in Minnesota, Fillmyer’s three-plus inning outing was his briefest since joining the Royals rotation on July 8. He hadn’t allowed more than five hits in any of his last five starts.

The Royals, who fell to 38-86, had jumped on a 6-0 lead in the second inning. White Sox starter Reynaldo López allowed six of the nine batters he faced in the inning to score, including on home runs to rookie Ryan O’Hearn and back-to-back homers to Whit Merrifield and Alex Gordon.

But after López’s departure in the third inning, a White Sox relief corps of six held the Royals to three hits over the next seven innings. Catcher Salvador Perez struck out five times for the first time in his career.

“(White Sox reliever Hector) Santiago changed,” Yost said. “He threw the ball well, came in and shut us down from that point (in the third). ... He did a nice job of what we couldn’t do in that fourth inning and what López couldn’t do in the second inning — stop the bleeding.”

Bonifacio heating up: After watching his batting average dip below .200 on Aug. 7, Royals outfielder Jorge Bonifacio got back into a groove at the plate. He has posted a .417 on-base percentage in his last nine games, including Sunday’s three-hit performance against the White Sox.

He drove in the Royals’ go-ahead run in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Duffy on schedule: Royals starter Danny Duffy, who was placed on the disabled list last week because of an impingement of muscles in his left shoulder, is likely to make his scheduled start on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. He reported no ill effects after throwing a side session on Friday and playing long toss on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field. Provided he makes it through his bullpen session on Monday, he will rejoin the active roster as previously planned.

Duffy last pitched on Aug. 11, a night in which he was ejected after allowing six runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings and seeing his average fastball velocity dip by 3.5 mph. He received an anti-inflammatory injection following the outing in an attempt to avoid a trip to the disabled list. But the Royals chose to skip his next turn in the rotation as a precaution.

Goodwin progressing: Outfielder Brian Goodwin, acquired in a trade with the Nationals last month, returned to the field in his rehab assignment with Class AAA Omaha on Sunday. He’d played as the Storm Chasers’ designated hitter on Thursday and Friday, going 0 for 8 before receiving the next day off.

Goodwin, out since July 31 because of a left groin strain, homered twice on Sunday.

This story was originally published August 19, 2018 at 5:14 PM.