Kansas City's pitching staff combined for 13 hits allowed in the team's loss to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.
The Kansas City Royals have been in a free fall throughout the final days of the regular season, suffering a three-game sweep by the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend and extending their losing streak to five games with a 14-11 loss on Tuesday to open their series against the division rival Chicago White Sox.
The Royals' biggest pitfall would be their pitching staff who combined for 13 hits allowed with starter Daniel Lynch IV having his worst outing this season. Through four innings, he surrendered seven hits and nine earned runs while only notching two strikeouts.
Following the matchup, manager Matt Quatraro pointed out a few miscues by the 29-year-old left-hander that played a part in Kansas City's defeat.
"The first inning was a little bit self-inflicted with the walk and the hit by pitch," Quatraro said in a postgame interview. "They were on to him. I don’t know if it was tipping or it was just bad locations. I think there was a curveball to [Randal] Grichuk, I’m not sure, some sort of breaking ball but it looked like it hung and he was on it."
Chase Meidroth struck first, singling in Grichuk and Tommy Pham for an early 2-0 White Sox lead. Brenton Doyle joined in the action during the second inning with a solo homer while Meidroth blew the game open in the third with a three-run shot to left-center field.
Former All-Star Tony Gonsolin made his Royals debut that same night, but didn't fare any better as Chicago kept their foot on the pedal to pull ahead 14-4 by the seventh.
The Royals clawed back in the eighth when Vinnie Pasquantino drove in Jac Caglianone and Maikel García reached home off a sacrifice fly by Josh Rojas. Michael Massey heated up as well, scoring Pasquantino with a ground rule double.
Pasquantino also brought the matchup within three, hitting a clutch grand slam in the ninth. Even then, right-hander Luis Castillo held on to keep Kansas City out of the win column.
For his first major-league outing since June 4, 2025, Gonsolin's struggles were to be expected and his five strikeouts showed some promise going into next season with the Royals well out of the playoff race.
"He was throwing the ball well," Quatraro said. "I don't know if he got a little bit tired in the third. The walk, a couple inherited runners scored there but overall, it looked like his split was pretty good. He's got a unique release height, so I'm glad he was up here to throw."
Still, Gonsolin is four years removed from a dominant 2022 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he compiled a 2.14 ERA before a season-ending Tommy John surgery put him in the spot of trying to find himself again on the mound.
Lynch could also work out to be another solid piece in the Royals' arsenal given that he only gave up two hits and struck out three batters last Wednesday to earn a win over the Houston Astros.
In the meantime, Kansas City will have their sights set on evening the series tonight with veteran Seth Lugo being the next in line to get the ball.
