Missed scoring opportunity, defensive miscues spoil Royals' 8th inning

CHICAGO -- For a moment in the eighth inning of Friday night’s game against the White Sox, the Royals appeared to have the table set perfectly for a victory.

They had runners at first and second with no outs. Two of their hottest hitters -- Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino -- were due up. The game was tied at 2, but all signs pointed to it not staying that way for long.

That’s indeed how things played out, just not how Kansas City envisioned.

An inability to cash in on a golden opportunity to score was followed by a cascade of miscues in the bottom half of the inning. Chicago sent nine hitters to the plate, scoring five runs on two hits, three walks, two errors and a wild pitch, more than enough to secure the 7-2 victory at Rate Field.

“It’s super frustrating,” Pasquantino said. “Just didn’t do enough tonight, didn’t execute well enough. It was a frustrating night.”

Pasquantino already helped supply the Royals (33-31) some offense in the third inning. Three pitches after Garcia tied a career high with his seventh homer of the season, Kansas City’s first baseman blistered a solo shot of his own down the right-field line to give his team a 2-1 advantage.

Knowing that, even after Mike Tauchman’s fifth-inning home run tied the game, it wasn’t a leap to think Garcia and Pasquantino would come through again when presented with a chance to break it open in the eighth.

Garcia came to the plate after Bobby Witt Jr. followed Jonathan India’s leadoff walk with his second single of the night. But in a tight contest when one run might’ve made all the difference, manager Matt Quatraro opted to have Garcia attempt to bunt the runners over.

Unfortunately, his bunt bounced directly to White Sox reliever Jordan Leasure, who fired to third for the forceout.

“I thought that was the right thing to do,” Quatraro said. “Maikel’s a good bunter. We get an opportunity to get Vinnie and [Salvador Perez] at the plate with second and third and less than two outs -- we’re going to take that opportunity.”

Pasquantino initially appeared to erase the miscue in his ensuing at-bat, but Chase Meidroth dove to snare his 104.9 mph grounder and got the out at second.

“Just tip your cap,” Pasquantino said. “That’s a really nice play. I gave it my best shot, wish I would’ve hit it more to the right, but didn’t. So you’ve just got to live with it and tip your cap to them on that play.”

Still, even after Perez popped out to end the threat, the game was tied. But whatever relief that might’ve provided didn't stick around for long thanks to a Murphy's Law-level breakdown in the bottom of the eighth.

Jonathan Bowlan allowed a leadoff double, then followed a groundout by walking Austin Slater and Kyle Teel. Luis Robert Jr. swung at Bowlan’s next offering, softly lining it to right to plate a pair. Two batters later, the bases were loaded yet again after Bowlan’s third walk of the night.

“Three walks in that inning really just doesn’t help the situation,” Bowlan said. “Then that cheapie, I made the pitch, but [Robert] got enough of it to get those two runs. ... It all came from the walks. The walks are what killed me that inning.”

Taylor Clarke came on in relief, but didn’t provide much of it. His wild pitch brought home another run. The White Sox scored again when Garcia booted a Tauchman grounder.

Clarke tried to end the inning on a pickoff attempt to first, but sailed the throw and allowed Tim Elko to score from third.

Four batters came to the plate after Robert’s two-run single. None of them got a hit. Chicago still scored three more runs.

“The eighth inning, we could’ve turned it the other way,” Quatraro said. “It was a really good game, unfortunately that eighth inning got away. ... Basically too many free passes, that ended up hurting us.”

For reasons obvious, many in the Royals’ clubhouse had already moved past the troublesome frame after the fact. The eighth inning was one to forget, and it didn't appear to be something the team was going to let hang over it beyond Friday night.

“It was a tough game, but you still have an opportunity to win tomorrow,” Pasquantino said. “Nothing that happened tonight will affect tomorrow. We’ll be ready to go.”