Kyle Isbel comes up with big hit as Kansas City Royals score three in the 10th to win
Right fielder Kyle Isbel delivered in a clutch spot in his first start of the season for the Kansas City Royals. He’d just been recalled to the active roster prior to Thursday’s game.
Isbel’s two-out, two-run single in the 10th inning provided breathing room for the bullpen and helped secure a 5-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in the finale of the three-game series in front of an announced 11,242 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Royals (7-10) finished their road trip 2-4 but ended on a high note by taking two of three from the defending AL Central champions and this year’s projected favorite to win the division.
“It was actually a really good road trip,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We should’ve had a couple there in Seattle that we felt were right there. It could’ve looked a lot different. I know (the players) realize how we’re playing, the caliber of baseball.
“You keep playing good baseball, you keep doing things right, keep figuring out how to keep getting better in the spots we need to — and we know that’s going to be offensively — it’s going to happen.”
The win also provided a lift to a clubhouse still slightly shaken from the news that starting shortstop Adalberto Mondesi suffered an ACL tear.
At one point, it started to look as though the game might follow a similar script as some of the Royals’ other recent gut-wrenching games — scratching and clawing their way to a late lead or rallying to tie only to see the game slip away in the final stages.
They’ve lost four of their six one-run games this season, and two of their three losses in Seattle came in the late innings after they’d rallied, including having taken a lead in extra innings in Sunday’s loss.
“It’s a big clubhouse morale boost,” Royals starting pitcher Brad Keller said. “Just so many close games all year, it seems like. This was our second extra-inning game on this road trip. We’re right there in the thick of every game. It’s just trying to get a hit to go our way or that call to go our way. Today was big.”
Andrew Benintendi staked the club to a two-run lead midway through the game, along with another stellar pitching performance by Keller on another blustery, cold day in the Windy City.
Benintendi drove in the club’s first two runs on a first-inning RBI double and a fifth-inning sacrifice fly.
In an effort to avoid the wind, Keller tried everything from hand warmers in his sleeves between innings to ducking into the walkway that connects the clubhouse to the dugout. Meanwhile out on the mound, he made that small lead stand up.
Keller allowed just one run and three hits in seven innings. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter. His sinker proved effective yet again as he recorded 12 groundouts compared to just two fly outs. The lone run he allowed came on a sixth-inning home run by Leury Garcia.
“I relied on the defense,” Keller said. “Me and Cam (Gallagher) worked really well together today. We had a good game plan, stuck to it. … I fell like I fell behind a lot early, then kind of felt like I finally caught rhythm there through probably the fourth, fifth. Just kind of battled. I didn’t really feel like I could feel much, but just tried to find a way.”
Keller has allowed six runs in four starts (24 2/3 innings) this season.
Flipping the script
The White Sox tied the score, 2-2, the inning Keller turned the game over to the bullpen. Josh Staumont gave up back-to-back singles, the second one a soft fly ball placed perfectly between defenders in right field. That put runners on the corners with no outs.
Then White Sox outfielder A.J. Pollock hit a fly ball to left field. Benintendi got behind the ball and lined up his feet to make a throw to the plate, but he didn’t have a strong grip on the ball as his throw bounced on the infield as Josh Harrison scored.
Staumont retired the next two batters, and Scott Barlow worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to get the game into extra innings.
“To give up that one run late and then still keep coming and keep fighting, it just shows a lot about this club,” Matheny said.
It didn’t come easy in the 10th. The Royals loaded the bases with one out thanks to the automatic runner in extra innings and walks by Benintendi and Carlos Santana.
But Bobby Witt Jr. struck out. Up until that point, they’d gone 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and were in danger of leaving them loaded in the 10th inning on the road.
However, White Sox catcher Reese McGuire couldn’t haul in a pitch from reliever Aaron Bummer with Isbel batting. The passed ball allowed Whit Merrifield to score from third base and give the Royals a 3-2 edge.
“It was a big at-bat for sure,” Isbel said. “It was actually a big stress relief after the wild pitch because we had two outs, bases loaded. I was just happy I was able to come through.”
Reliever Taylor Clarke retired the side in order in the 10th, including two strikeouts, to earn his first save as a Royal.
“After losing three in Seattle, finishing the road series on a high note is big,” Clarke said. “Hopefully carry that momentum back home. Just being able to win those close games (was big). I feel like we’ve been missing that big pitch or that big hit to come through. Just being able to be on the other side of it for once is nice.”
The Royals will return home and begin a three-game weekend series against the New York Yankees on Friday night. The series-opening pitching matchup is set to feature Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes (0-0, 1.15) against Royals left-hander Kris Bubic (0-1, 14.14).
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 4:37 PM.
