News'A frustrating night' against White Sox
Bannister, bullpen hit hard; Butler connects for homer
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
05/30/09 1:40 AM ET
KANSAS CITY -- Royals pitcher Brian Bannister thought the turning point came early, on a second-inning pitch to Chicago's Josh Fields.Early is when most turning points come when someone wins, 11-2, as the White Sox did on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium. Many of the 26,495 fans came to see the postgame fireworks but the Sox put on their own pyrotechnics display before that.
They were up 1-0 on Jermaine Dye's first-inning homer and, following singles by Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski and two outs in the second, Bannister had a 1-2 count on Fields. He threw a 77-mph curveball, so low that he thought it'd hit the dirt before reaching catcher Miguel Olivo.
Fields, though, reached down and ripped a double to the left-field wall and the White Sox were ahead by 3-0.
"That was pretty impressive," Bannister said. "I think the ball would've bounced. Miggy was already getting down on his knees and Fields golfed it off the wall. When it was halfway to the plate, I thought it was a good pitch, but he somehow got underneath it and got it all the way out there. That was a huge moment in the game because I could've shut them down and just kept us in the game after that."
There was no shutting down the White Sox this night, however. They collected 17 hits and had a six-run sixth inning to make things easy for left-hander Clayton Richard, now 2-0 to show for his four starts.
"With our lack of run production, getting down three or four puts a lot of heat on us right now, until we get the bats going," said Royals manager Trey Hillman.
The Royals are two games under .500 for the first time all season at 23-25. Since ending a six-game winning streak on May 7, their record is 5-14. They're in third place, 3 1/2 games out in the American League Central.
Bright spots were few for the Royals. The best came after they were already down 11 runs.
Billy Butler whacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning off Richard and it was an impressive shot that sailed well over the left-field bullpen, estimated at 404 feet.
"I just saw it good. I tried to put a barrel on it. I'm just glad we could get something on the board tonight, and ultimately that swing didn't help us out," Butler said. "I'm happy I hit that, but ultimately, I wanted to win the ballgame. That's the main thing."
That ended a streak of scoreless innings for Richard at 16 2/3.
Butler noted that Richard's sinker was especially effective in his seven-inning outing.
"When he got two strikes on guys, he'd hump it up mid-90s. He's got a good arm, good stuff. He pounded the zone. Pretty much beat us in every aspect," Butler said.
Butler's homer was his fourth and he also singled to extend his hitting streak to six games. Mark Teahen also had two hits and is 6-for-10 in his last three games.
"That's good to see," Hillman said. "We've just got to get more guys to come to the party."
The White Sox had quite a party and the statistical side of Bannister noted just how festive it was for them.
"They kept hitting 'em where we weren't," Bannister said. "Typically in most games, it's around .300 or for balls put in play. And for those first six innings, it was about .550 as a team for them. It wasn't just me, it was every guy that went out there. They kept managing to either hit the ground balls in the hole or flip 'em out, broken bats or whatever, over the infield. It was a frustrating night."
Bannister was pretty close in his figuring. Of 27 balls put in play by the Sox in the first six innings, 14 went for hits, a .519 average.
After Bannister left in the sixth, the White Sox dinged Sidney Ponson for four runs on four hits. An RBI double was also notched against Kyle Farnsworth before he finished the inning. The run was charged to Ponson, so Farnsworth still has a scoreless string of innings intact at 14 1/3.
The other relievers, Jamey Wright, Ron Mahay and John Bale, each pitched one scoreless inning. By then, however, the Sox really didn't need any more runs. The party was over.
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
