By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royal got back to back home runs from Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino to take a lead in the third inning, but with the game tied, their bullpen surrendered five runs in the eighth inning as they fell to the Chicago White Sox 7-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Kansas City first fell behind in the bottom of the second inning when Luis Robert Jr singled to drive in Joshua Palacios. In the third inning, Garcia and Pasquantino homered after Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr struck out to open the inning, giving the Royals a 2-1 lead.
Maikel and Vinnie go back-to-back! pic.twitter.com/bjBzqmOyox
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) June 7, 2025
The White Sox tied up the game against Royals starter Seth Lugo in the fifth inning, a solo home run by Mike Tauchman, but Lugo was able to get out of the inning the rest of the way without giving them the lead, getting Chase Meidroth to line out and former Royal Andrew Benintendi to ground out.
Lugo was replaced by Daniel Lynch in the sixth, and Lynch pitched 1 1/3 innings before giving way to Jonathan Bowlan in the seventh with one out and a runner on. Bowlan got Tim Elko to ground out but walked Tauchman, before striking out Meidroth to end the inning. He would not get so lucky in the eighth inning.
Benintendi doubled to lead the inning off, and was replaced by another former Royal in pinch runner Michael A Taylor. Bowlan got Miguel Vargas to ground out, but then issued back to back walks to Austin Slater and Kyle Teel to load the bases. A single from Robert Jr drove in two runs as Taylor and Slater scored. Josh Rojas reached first on a forceout, but the bases were reloaded as Bowlan walked Elko, and was then replaced by Taylor Clarke.
Clarke would not fare much better, immediately allowing Teel to score on a wild pitch. Rojas came home to score as Tauchman reached first on a fielding error by Garcia, and then Elko scored on a wild pickoff attempt from Clarke for the final run.
Bowlan took the loss, falling to 1-1, pitching 1 1/3 innings and giving up five runs, three earned, giving up two hits and walking four batters while striking out one. Bobby Witt Jr and Drew Waters both led at the plate for the Royals going 2-for-4.
Kansas City and Chicago will be back in action tomorrow. Michael Wacha (3-4, 2.88 ERA) will start for the Royals against Adrian Houser (1-1, 1.47 ERA) for the White Sox. First pitch is at 3:10pm, pregame coverage begins at 2:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
