The Chicago White Sox had the right reliever on the mound with the game tied in the eighth inning Saturday, especially when some miscommunication in the outfield allowed the Royals to put a runner on third base with one out.

Jesse Crain calmly retired Salvador Perez on a popup and then struck out Lorenzo Cain to end the threat, his 29th straight scoreless appearance – and one that kept Chicago in the game.

”Luckily we had Jesse in there,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. ”You make a mistake and you have a guy in there who can still get you out of it.”

It wound up being a decisive moment when Alejandro De Aza drove in Jordan Danks with a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth, sending the White Sox to a 3-2 victory over Kansas City.

”I always have the feeling out there that I’m going to get through it no matter what,” said Crain, who hasn’t allowed a run since April 12. ”Just make the best pitch you can.”

Addison Reed handled a perfect ninth for his 21st save.

Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez provided the only runs for the slumbering Royals, who have dropped four straight since climbing back to .500.

”The difference in the game was that we both had the same situation late – had the winning run on third base – and they executed and we didn’t,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Crain (2-1) may have made the clutch pitches, but it took a bunch of critical at-bats for the White Sox to escape with their second straight win in the three-game series.

Dayan Viciedo led off the ninth with a single off Aaron Crow (3-3), and Jeff Keppinger drew a walk to reach base for the fourth time. Yost brought in closer Greg Holland, and he got pinch-hitter Gordon Beckham to fly out to center field.

That allowed Danks, who was pinch-running for Viciedo, to reach third base. De Aza laid off a couple of pitches out of the strike zone, and then ripped a fly ball to right field that was just deep enough to allow Danks to slide home ahead of the throw with the go-ahead run.

It was the 25th one-run game the White Sox have played this season.

”It seems like we’re always on the losing end of one-run games, so fundamentally to get a sac fly to get the winning run, it’s a good feeling,” Keppinger said. ”Hopefully we can build off it.”

The Royals struck first when Miguel Tejada, starting at second base for the ninth time in his 16-year career, hit a two-out single in the second inning. The 39-year-old then chugged all the way around on a double by Moustakas to give Kansas City the early lead.

It was the first RBI for Moustakas since May 23.

The White Sox threatened in the third when Keppinger singled and Tyler Flowers walked to start the inning. Alex Rios hit a ball down the right-field line that fell foul by just a couple of feet, and then he struck out looking to keep the White Sox off the scoreboard.

At least until the fourth.

Adam Dunn, who was hitting .186 coming into the game, walked leading off the inning. Paul Konerko followed with a single up the middle, and Conor Gillaspie’s slow roller up the middle was enough to drive in Dunn with the tying run.

Wade Davis nearly escaped the inning when he got Viciedo to ground into a double play, but Keppinger delivered a single to right that gave the White Sox a 2-1 lead.

Kansas City was poised for a big sixth inning, tying the game on a single by Perez and putting runners on first and second with one out. But reliever Matt Lindstrom entered the game and got Cain to ground into a double play on his first pitch to end the threat.

”It’s baseball, man. It’s a hard game,” Moustakas said. ”Sometimes you get the job done, sometimes you don’t get it done, and that’s just kind of how it turns out.”

White Sox starter Jose Quintana wound up going 5 1-3 innings, while Davis made it through seven innings on the warm afternoon. He also gave up two runs for the Royals.

”Tough loss,” Davis said, ”having a tie game in the ninth inning.”

— Associated Press —

Once the Chicago White Sox had put two runs on the board – it took them all of one inning – it was up to Hector Santiago to simply pour strikes into the zone.

The Kansas City Royals’ punchless offense couldn’t touch him.

Santiago wound up pitching a career-best eight innings, and long home runs by Dayan Viciedo and Alejandro De Aza turned Friday night’s game into a 9-1 rout by the White Sox.

”Getting ahead early and getting the lead, we just kept putting on and putting on,” said Santiago, who has taken over injured starter Gavin Floyd’s spot in the rotation.

”You want to go out every inning and show them you’re fighting,” he said. ”They score runs and you want to get them back in so they keep scoring.”

Viciedo’s three-run shot capped a five-run third inning, and De Aza’s two-run homer in the sixth put the game away. Tyler Flowers was the only member of the White Sox starting lineup without a hit against Jeremy Guthrie, reliever Bruce Chen and the Royals’ roughed-up bullpen.

”It was a good first inning,” Chicago manager Robin Ventura said, ”and I think the approach all night, and against those two guys, having Guthrie and Chen in there at the same time, as tough as they’ve been on us, you’re exorcising some curse or something. It was good.”

It was easily Santiago’s best performance since going seven scoreless innings May 7 against the New York Mets. It also helped the scuffling White Sox get back on track after losing 17 of 22 and dropping a season-high 12 games below .500.

The left-hander gave up just three hits and a walk, and Eric Hosmer’s homer in the sixth represented the only run Santiago (3-5) has allowed to the Royals in 19 1-3 career innings.

”He got that early lead. He was pounding the strike zone and letting his defense do the work,” Hosmer said. ”He had a lot of run support and he was feeling confident. When you have that lead you can tell the hitter, ‘Here it is. Hit it.”’

On a warm, windy night at Kauffman Stadium, Guthrie (7-5) walked three of the first five batters he faced, and the bases-loaded free pass that he issued to Paul Konerko brought in the game’s first run. Conor Gillaspie added a sacrifice fly later in the first to make it 2-0.

The real trouble for Guthrie came in the third, when Alexei Ramirez led off with a single and Alex Rios doubled over the head of Alex Gordon in left field. Adam Dunn’s single drove in another run, and Gillaspie’s single knocked Guthrie from the game.

Viciedo greeted Chen with a three-run shot to give the White Sox a 7-0 lead.

”I just couldn’t find the strike zone,” Guthrie said. ”I created a mess in the first inning and gave up a bunch of base hits in the third.”

Guthrie wound up allowing six runs on five hits and three walks in 2 1-3 innings, his shortest start since going the same distance for the Orioles on July 7, 2009. It was his second straight shaky outing, too – he allowed five runs over seven innings Saturday night at Tampa Bay.

All the more puzzling is that Guthrie had been having success against the White Sox. Since joining the Royals last year, the right-hander had been 3-0 in six starts against their AL Central rivals, giving up just two earned runs in 44 2-3 innings.

Guthrie had given up that many Friday night before escaping the first inning.

”He just didn’t have it,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”It was one of those nights when he didn’t have much going for him.”

De Aza’s two-run homer in the sixth made it 9-0, the most runs that the Royals’ stingy pitching staff had allowed since an 11-6 loss to the New York Yankees on May 10. It was also the most runs the White Sox had scored since beating Toronto 10-6 on June 10.

”That’s how this team is, going back to last year,” Dunn said. ”But you could see it, a little sigh of relief. You get a couple hits and you get a little excitement on the bench.”

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals announced Friday they have signed Indiana State left-hander Sean Manaea, whom they chose with the first pick in the competitive balance portion for the draft.

The Royals have scheduled a news conference for Friday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium that will include Manaea, Royals general manager Dayton Moore and Manaea’s adviser, Scott Boras.
Baseball America first reported that a deal was imminent.

Manaea (6 feet 5, 215 pounds) was considered a first-round talent but slipped to the Royals at No. 34 overall in part due to a hip injury that will require surgery. Royals team physician Dr. Vincent Key said earlier this month that Manaea should be ready by spring training next season.

Manaea, 21, was 5-4 with a 1.47 ERA in 13 starts for the Sycamores this past season.

— Associated Press —