 walked one and had a career-high eight strikeouts in the Royals' first complete-game shutout since June 2, 2017, when Jason Vargas beat Cleveland 4-0.Kansas City improved to 4-1 since the All-Star break and dropped the White Sox to 0-5.Merrifield, hitting .379 (22 for 58) in a 14-game hitting streak, raced to an inside-the-park homer down the right-field line in the fourth inning after Cam Gallagher doubled. Plate umpire Tom Hallion initially called Merrifield out on the play at home, but it was overturned after a quick replay review. That made the score 6-0 and gave Merrifield the 100th inside-the-park homer in Royals history.Dozier hit a two-run, 447-foot homer to left field in the eighth inning to cap a four-run inning and finish the scoring.Chicago starter Dylan Cease (1-1) gave up six runs - four earned - and eight hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out seven.The White Sox had a rocky first inning as the Royals scored twice. Merrifield led off with long fly that was caught by center fielder Charlie Tilson as he collided with left fielder Eloy Jimenez who went down in pain next to the wall. Jimenez was taken out with a sore right elbow.Adalberto Mondesi followed with a single, and took second on Cease's errant pickoff attempt. Mondesi then stole third and continued home when Yoan Moncada missed catcher James McCann's throw. Alex Gordon followed with a single and scored on Hunter Dozier's triple to right for a 2-0 lead.A third White Sox error contributed to the Royals' two-run third inning. After Mondesi singled, shortstop Leury Garcia fielded Gordon's grounder, but threw wildly past second base, allowing Mondesi to score and Gordon to advance to third. Gordon was thrown out at the plate by second baseman Yolmer Sanchez but Bubba Starling's single drove in Jorge Soler to push the lead to 4-0.ROYALS CATCHING PLANSManager Ned Yost says plans to use both Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria in relatively equal parts after the trade that sent Martin Maldonado to the Cubs for pitcher Mike Montgomery. Gallagher, who started 25 games as Maldonado's backup, was in the lineup against the White Sox on Tuesday night while Viloria just arrived from Class AA Northwest Arkansas.''We'll just kind of mix it up,'' Yost said. ''But I think on average, one will play four games one week and the other will play four games a week the next.'' Last year Viloria jumped from Class-A Wilmington to the majors on Sept. 1 and played 10 games, including seven starts as catcher.''To be able to handle himself the way he did at the big league level behind the plate was pretty impressive,'' Yost said.TRAINER'S ROOMWhite Sox: C Wellington Castillo (strained left oblique) returned from a five-game minor league rehab, replacing Zack Collins on the roster. ''Swinging was the hardest thing to do, because I can catch, I can do all the other things. Hitting was the toughest to do,'' Castillo said. ... There's no timetable for the return of shortstop Tim Anderson, out for three weeks with a right ankle sprain, according to manager Rick Renteria. ''His strength is improving. He's swinging, he's taking BP on the field. He's actually taking some ground balls, still in a controlled environment. He's getting better every day,'' Renteria said.Royals: Mondesi left with an injuruy after a futile dive for a foul popup in the fifth inning. He left with a trainer cradling his left arm.UP NEXTWhite Sox: RHP Ivan Nova (4-8, 5.60 ERA) will make his 20th start of the season.Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (3-5, 4.64 ERA) will make his first start since last Friday night when he left in the third inning after being bruised on the pitching hand by a line drive.---More baseball coverage: www.apnews.com/MLB and www.twitter.com/-Sports)
Cease aims to help White Sox turn tide vs. RoyalsFLMDylan Cease will try to help the visiting Chicago White Sox win their first game since the All-Star break when he makes his second major league start on Tuesday night against the Kansas City Royals.The White Sox didn't have an answer for Royals right-hander Jakob Junis in the opener of the four-game series on Monday night and lost 5-2 after going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.Cease (1-0, 5.40 ERA) made his major league debut on July 3 and allowed three runs and four hits in five innings, earning the win in the 7-5 victory against the visiting Detroit Tigers.Cease came to the White Sox from the Chicago Cubs in 2017. He was part of the deal that sent left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana to the Cubs.He recently told reporters that he doesn't expect the 12-day gap between starts to have an adverse effect on his performance, but he won't know until he takes the mound. Cease knows what he needs to do once he gets there, however."I need to be efficient," he said. "Basically, fastball command and not wasting pitches." Cease would also like to see an uptick in his slider's velocity, which was too close to the speed of his curveball in his last outing."When you get to the higher level, all the little things add up to bigger things," he said.Royals starter Glenn Sparkman (2-5, 5.18 ERA) will try to follow up Junis and improve off his last start, which was a major step up from his previous two appearances.Sparkman gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings of a 6-0 loss against the Nationals in Washington on July 6, but he closed with four straight scoreless innings.Sparkman said he gave up trying to hit the corners on every pitch and just concentrated on throwing strikes, a mentality he'll likely carry into the meeting with the White Sox."I was trying to nibble here and there, and after those first two innings I was like, 'Let's just go after these guys,'" he said. "My command started to move in the right direction." Sparkman has faced the White Sox twice this season.He gave up four runs in a one-inning relief appearance on May 29, and started against them on June 9, allowing three runs (two earned) and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings. He was the losing pitcher in the 5-2 defeat.Overall vs. the White Sox, Sparkman is 0-1 in five games (two starts) with a 4.97 ERA.The Royals hope third baseman Hunter Dozier can pick up where he left off Monday night, when he had two hits and an RBI.Dozier hit .375 with seven home runs in his first April in the majors, but he has struggled since returning from thorax tightness on his right side, which caused him to miss 19 games from May 31 to June 20.Dozier was hitting .314 when he went on the injured list, but his averaged had dipped to .278 before he collected the two hits on Monday.Whit Merrifield has helped pick up the slack during his current 13-game hitting streak, and rookie second baseman Nicky Lopez is 6-for-15 coming out of the All-Star break with three RBIs.The White Sox will look to veteran center fielder Jon Jay to keep swinging a hot bat.Jay went 4-for-4 on Monday night, improving to 8-for-16 coming out of the break.--Field Level Media
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