Royals, still adjusting to new lineup, fall to White Sox, 7-2

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on Jun 6, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — When the Kansas City Royals promoted Jac Caglianone from Triple-A Omaha, they had to find a way to get his bat in the lineup.

Caglianone, 22, offered a new power element. The Royals, who scored one run in their final 18 innings against the Detroit Tigers last weekend, desperately needed to reignite their stagnant offense.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro switched things around. He moved Maikel Garcia into the third spot and bumped Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez down in the order.

The reason? Get the speed guys on base to score more runs.

The Royals scored 22 runs on 37 hits in the I-70 series against the St. Louis Cardinals. But the inconsistencies returned against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field.

KC belted two homers in Friday’s series opener: Garcia and Pasquantino teamed up for back-to-back home runs. But the Royals scored no more in a 7-2 loss to the White Sox.

It was the second time the club produced consecutive homers this season. The Royals achieved the mark on May 4 against the Baltimore Orioles.

The offense didn’t do enough Friday, but there’s reasons to think things are trending in the right direction.

Is the Royals’ new-look lineup working?

The new-look Royals offense has lengthened the lineup. Now, Garcia is the fulcrum at the heart of the operating machine. He is hitting .311 with an .864 OPS to lead the team in both categories this season.

Garcia welcomes the challenge. He hasn’t changed his approach but knows opposing teams don’t want to face the trio of Pasquantino, Perez and Caglianone.

As a result, he is getting better pitches to hit. It’s allowed him to attack opposing pitchers and do damage at the plate.

On his home run, Garcia drilled an 89-mph change-up over the center-field wall. He tied a career high with his seventh home run and 30th RBI this season.

The Royals’ new lineup also benefits Pasquantino. In the fourth spot, his sole focus is to drive runners in. After a rough start, he has been considerably better in recent weeks. It coincided with a career high on-base streak of 22 games.

Pasquantino leads the Royals with nine home runs this season. He has 31 hits and 13 RBIs during his streak.

That said, the Royals needed more offense Friday night. The White Sox surged forward with five runs against KC reliever Jonathan Bowlan.

In the eighth inning, Luis Robert Jr. added a two-run single with the bases loaded. He finished the game 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

Bowlan walked four batters in 1 1/3 innings. He issued consecutive walks to Austin Slater and top rookie Kyle Teel in the inning.

The Royals (33-31) failed to respond late. The White Sox (21-43) snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Royals with the victory.

Eighth-inning mistakes

Things unraveled for the Royals in the eighth inning. After failing to capitalize with two runners on base, the White Sox made the most of their opportunity.

Chicago took advantage of costly mistakes in the frame. Bowlan dealt with command issues and the Royals produced two errors that allowed runs to score.

Robert had the big hit in the eighth inning. From there, Royals reliever Taylor Clarke tossed a wild pitch and had a throwing error that went wayward of the first-base bag.

It wasn’t the cleanest inning for the Royals. The loss was compounded by an offense that didn’t score after the third inning despite having seven hits.

What’s next?

The Royals are back in action Saturday as right-hander Michael Wacha starts against Adrian Houser at 3:10 p.m. Central Time at Rate Field.