Kansas City always scores hits against the White Sox ace, but they happened to score runs this time
Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost cracked wise at his team's expense before its victory over the White Sox on Wednesday night.
Ned Yost on facing Chris Sale: "He throws a lot of strikes. That's good for us, because we swing at a lot of balls."
— Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) September 17, 2014
It's phrased as an (affectionate?) jab, but the optimism wouldn't necessarily be ill-founded if it were genuine. When it comes to putting the bat on the ball, the Royals actually hit Chris Sale pretty well on a regular basis. They entered Wednesday with a .258 average against Sale during his career, which is the highest of any team to face him more than once a year since the start of the 2012 season.
The Royals are able to have success in this field because the strike out less frequently against Sale than any other team. Granted, most starters would still take that rate against any team (7.8 strikeouts per nine innings), but the Royals' relative stinginess is still notable because they even beat out teams who have faced Sale just once or twice.
Neither of these are necessarily surprising, because the Royals have built their teams around contact. They've finished no worse than fifth in the AL in batting average over the last five seasons, and they carried a .260 average -- third-best -- into Sale's start Wednesday, while striking out the least.
The Royals have struggled with the other elements of offense over the years -- taking walks, hitting for power and running the bases -- and that's also evident in their lives against Sale the starter. Despite their respectable success in hitting it where they ain't, it doesn't often result in bunches of runs. Sale entered his start on Wednesday with a 2.23 ERA against the Royals in 12 starts, and the game log is pretty consistent:
| Date | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-05-12 | L 0-5 | GS-5, L | 5.0 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 103 | 66 | 42 |
| 2012-07-15 | W 2-1 | GS-8, W | 8.0 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 115 | 76 | 62 |
| 2012-08-06 | W 4-2 | GS-8, W | 8.0 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 101 | 67 | 65 |
| 2012-08-17 | L 2-4 | GS-7, L | 6.2 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 117 | 70 | 41 |
| 2012-09-08 | W 5-4 | GS-6, W | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 101 | 63 | 63 |
| 2012-09-19 | L 0-3 | GS-7, L | 6.2 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 113 | 71 | 52 |
| 2013-04-01 | W 1-0 | GS-8, W | 7.2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 104 | 72 | 71 |
| 2013-05-06 | W 2-1 | GS-8 | 7.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 119 | 80 | 67 |
| 2013-07-27 | L 0-1 | CG 9, L | 9.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 115 | 87 | 75 |
| 2013-09-27 | L 1-6 | GS-6, L | 5.1 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 96 | 64 | 38 |
| 2014-04-06 | W 5-1 | GS-8, W | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 111 | 75 | 79 |
| 2014-07-21 | W 3-1 | GS-7, W | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 106 | 68 | 66 |
But there are a few burps, and Wednesday night will go down as the latest. Sale allowed five runs on nine hits over five innings. That includes a couple of homers, the first of which changed the game.
In a bit of foreshadowing, the start turned on one mistake -- a hanging slider on an 0-2 count to Lorenzo Cain. In a situation where a pitch out of the zone would've probably done the trick, Sale threw a strike, and Cain whacked it good. Prior to Cain's at-bat, Sale gave up a couple lucky singles to Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki, which is what the Royals always do. What the Royals normally don't do is homer off Sale, but after Cain broke the seal for the first time in two years, they had the runs they needed for an upset. This is basically how the Royals offense works against every other starter.
This loss drops Sale to 6-6 against the Royals over 13 starts, but that reflects more on the White Sox's inability to hit Royals pitching. The .500 record comes with an updated ERA of 2.61 (with zero unearned runs), which is better than his career starting ERA of 2.81. There's no shame in his game here, but it just shows you the strength of the Kansas City lineup's identity, for better or worse. Royals gonna Royal, and even the league's most dominant pitcher on a per-start basis can't shake them out of it.
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