Royals ride eight-run fifth inning to series-clinching rout of White Sox

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on Aug 27, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — When the Kansas City Royals get rolling offensively, there isn’t much that can derail them from scoring runs in a hurry.

On Wednesday, they put up eight runs against the Chicago White Sox in one inning. And the production came in a variety of ways.

Team captain Salvador Perez led the fifth-inning charge. He belted a solo home run to begin the barrage — No. 296 for his illustrious career — and added a two-run double later as the Royals batted around in the inning.

Perez also surpassed Royals Hall of Famer Amos Otis on the club’s all-time RBIs list. With 993 in his career, Perez has an outside chance of catching another Royals Hall of Famer, Hal McRae (1,012), for second place on that list this season.

With 16 hits, the Royals pounded out a 12-1 victory over the White Sox at Rate Field. Perez did the most damage, but KC got production from throughout the lineup.

Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino each added a pair of two-run singles. Adam Frazier also drove in a run with a single.

The Royals’ outburst snapped a streak of 23 2/3 scoreless innings by White Sox starters. Chicago got dominant starts from Shane Smith and Martin Perez earlier in the series, but veteran right-hander Aaron Civale wasn’t so lucky.

Civale surrendered five earned runs in 4 2/3 innings Wednesday. The White Sox bullpen was taxed, too, as left-handed specialist Tyler Gilbert allowed six runs in a third of an inning.

Mike Yastrzemski belted his 14th home run of the year to put the game out of reach. The Royals (69-65) finished their six-game road trip with an even split, 3-3.

Bergert faces White Sox in rematch

Royals rookie starter Ryan Bergert got a second dose of the White Sox this month. Only this time, it came on the road at Rate Field.

Bergert allowed two runs (one earned) in his first matchup against Chicago on Aug. 17. He took a no-decision as the host Royals won, 6-2. There was a lot to learn from that outing and Bergert made some key adjustments his second time around.

On Wednesday, Bergert completed six innings for the first time in his career. In his 12th major league start, he limited the White Sox to one run.

Andrew Benintendi — a former Royals standout — tagged Bergert with a solo home run in the fourth inning. But Bergert continued to pitch efficiently. He worked around two more singles before retiring Brooks Baldwin to end the inning.

In the sixth, Bergert navigated a one-out single and error by left fielder Michael Massey. He got fellow rookie Chase Meidroth to strike out and then retired Baldwin again to finish his night on a high note.

Bergert earned his first win with the Royals and is now sporting a 2.67 ERA in 64 innings this season.

AL wild-card update

The Royals are looking up at the Seattle Mariners in the AL wild-card standings.

The Mariners (72-62) took care of business by wrapping up a series win over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday. They are currently three games in front of the Royals for the third and final wild-card spot.

Those teams are on a collision course. The Mariners will come to Kauffman Stadium for a three-game series Sept. 16-18. Until then, the Royals will use upcoming series to try to overtake Seattle.

The Royals need one more head-to-head victory to own the regular-season tiebreaker. However, their looming September series will be influenced by games preceding it.

This weekend, the Royals will face the Detroit Tigers in another AL Central showdown. The Tigers took two of three games earlier on the Royals’ road trip.

What’s ahead?

The Royals are off Thursday, returning to Kauffman Stadium ahead of a three-game series against the Tigers.

KC is expected to start right-hander Seth Lugo in Friday’s series opener. He will be followed by Michael Wacha on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday’s starter, however, is yet to be determined. The spot would be rookie Noah Cameron’s regular turn in the rotation, but the Royals are still working out a plan for how they want to approach the matchup.