KANSAS CITY, Mo. — MJ Melendez broke an eighth-inning tie with a single to help the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 on Friday night.
With one out, Melendez hit a soft liner to left off Michael Kopech (0-1) to score pinch-runner Dairon Blanco.
Chris Stratton (1-0) worked a scoreless eighth for the victory, and James McArthur got a game-ending double-play grounder for his first save.
The Royals jumped opened the scoring in the first inning on the first of Salvador Pérez’s three hits, a two-out RBI double off the wall in center. Pérez is tied for the American League lead with nine RBIs.
Gavin Sheets tied it with a leadoff homer in the second, lifting starter Brady Singer’s slider 391 feet down the line in right.
After the homer, Singer retired the next 15 hitters consecutively on 48 pitches, striking out four and getting nine ground balls. He faced two more than the minimum in completing 6 1/3 innings, while allowing a run on two hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Royals starters lead the majors with seven quality starts.
White Sox starter Erick Fedde worked five innings, allowing a run on six hits and two walks, with four strikeouts. He exited after allowing a leadoff hit to Pérez and a walk to Melendez.
Reliever John Brebbia retired the next two batters, leaving after injuring his right calf while fielding a soft grounder. Steven Wilson struck out Hunter Renfroe to end the threat, stranding a runner at third.
TRAINER’S ROOM
White Sox OF Eloy Jiménez was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to April 2 with a left adductor strain.
TRANSACTIONS
The White Sox selected the contract of OF Robbie Grossman from Triple-A Charlotte and designated RHP Alex Speas for assignment.
UP NEXT
White Sox RHP Chris Flexen (0-1, 8.31) opposes Royals RHP Michael Wacha (0-0, 5.40) Saturday evening.
