Royals roar back against Jose Quintana in 4-1 victory over White Sox

When the sixth inning began here inside U.S. Cellular Field on Friday night, there was little hint of the storm to come. In some ways, it appeared to come from nowhere.

White Sox starter Jose Quintana had been impenetrable for five innings, breezing through the Royals’ offense in just 60 pitches. He had allowed just one hit and retired 11 straight batters. In eight starts this season, he had not surrendered more than two earned runs. Just days earlier, Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer had tapped Quintana as the most underrated player in baseball.

As Omar Infante walked to the plate with one out in the top of the sixth inning, the task appeared daunting. Quintana was poised to turn Hosmer into prophet.

“Man,” Royals manager Ned Yost would say. “He’s just really tough.”

Then came a crack, an inch-wide opening that appeared in a split-second. The Royals turned it into a chasm. Infante saw a 94 mph fastball in the heart of the strike zone and ripped a double into the left-field corner. What followed was the return of frenzy hitting, a rat-tat-tat-tat attack that left Quintana shaken and the Royals reverting to lumber-wielding opportunists.

In the span of six batters, the Kansas City offense piled up five hits and three runs, erasing a one-run deficit. In the span of one half-inning, the Royals seized control in a 4-1 victory on Friday night. In a moment, the offense found a chink in the Quintana armor, feasting on curveballs once they finally put runners in scoring position.

“We just got some pitches that we could handle and we didn’t miss them,” Yost said.

For the first time this season, the reigning kings of the American League Central were facing the division-leading upstarts. The Royals took round one, improving to 21-20 on the season and pulling within 3  1/2 games of the first-place White Sox. As the Royals dined on prime rib from the postgame spread, they could savor a fourth win in five games.

“We waited for the right moment,” shortstop Alcides Escobar said, “to score a couple runs.”

The sentiment was true enough. After Infante cut Quintana with the double to left, right fielder Paulo Orlando followed with line-drive double to right, leveling the score at 1-1. Escobar came next, delivering an infield single into the hole at shortstop. Moments later, Lorenzo Cain landed a haymaker, roping another double into the corner in left field.

The final blow came from designated hitter Kendrys Morales, who lined an RBI single into left field with two outs. The inning, as a whole, resembled something out of the 2015 catalog, the line suddenly humming along after five quiet innings.

In the end, the Royals piled up 12 hits from eight different sources. Orlando finished with three hits and improved to 18 for 51 in his career against the White Sox — the organization that signed him out of Brazil. Escobar added two hits and a sterling defensive play in the bottom of the seventh. Quintana dropped to 1-7 all-time against the Royals after allowing four earned runs and eight hits in 6  1/3 innings.

“It’s good for us to win a game like this,” Orlando said, “to come back and everybody work hard for this.”

Owning a 3-1 lead in the sixth, Yost turned the game over to his bullpen, calling on Luke Hochevar to replace starter Dillon Gee. The quartet of Hochevar, Joakim Soria, Kelvin Herrera and closer Wade Davis combined to close the door in the final four innings.

Davis notched his 10th save. Gee allowed just one run in five innings, earning his first win since Sept. 12, 2014. The Royals pitching staff combined for ten strikeouts, including eight batters looking.

If this was not a statement victory, perhaps it was a stern message, delivered on a cool Friday night on the south side of Chicago. The Royals are the reigning champions — of the world and the AL Central. They will be a factor in this race.

“We found some holes,” Yost said.

Hours earlier, as the Royals bus arrived here at U.S. Cellular Field in the afternoon, the players could peer at the AL Central standings and see themselves 4  1/2 games behind the White Sox. After 40 games, the Royals sat dead even at 20-20, a team still in search of the relentless ethos that defined it during a championship run in 2015.

In the other clubhouse sat the Chicago White Sox, who had sprinted out to a 25-16 record in 41 games, taking early control of the division race. The White Sox had overwhelmed opponents with dominant pitching, and their starting rotation had been formidable. On Friday morning, they owned the best team ERA in the American League (3.19). In 16 games, a White Sox starting pitcher had allowed one run or fewer. Two of those starts belonged to Quintana, who entered with a 5-2 record and 1.54 ERA.

The Royals, meanwhile, were sending out Gee, a veteran right-hander making his second start after starters Chris Young and Kris Medlen had landed on the disabled list.

This, too, felt like a season ago. The White Sox had the front-line starter. The Royals possess a patch-work rotation. They made it work, anyway. The offense pounced at the right moment. The bullpen delivered the victory. The Royals were back above .500 for another night.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 10:21 PM with the headline "Royals roar back against Jose Quintana in 4-1 victory over White Sox."