White Sox Slip Past Royals 6-5
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox had a power surge on Saturday night.
But the offensive production in the 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals has been a rarity this season, and that was evident after the game when the team announced that hitting coach Jeff Manto had been fired.
The White Sox avoided 100 losses for the season with the win, but it wasn't enough to save Manto's job.
"Obviously, this has been a very disappointing season and one of the main areas of disappointment has been our offensive performance," general manager Rick Hahn said.
"We're at the bottom of several important categories, most importantly runs scored, walks and on-base percentage. It's our belief that the best way to continue to address some of those issues is to get a new voice in here to work with our hitters.
"We had a conversation with Jeff and we allowed him to choose whether he finished the season and had this announced on Monday. Jeff decided it was best for him to leave at the start of tonight's game."
Manager Robin Ventura said he fought for Manto to stay, but the decision to make the change wasn't his.
"As bad as this season has been, I don't want anyone to point the finger at him," Ventura said of Manto. "Having played and having the same thing as a player, there's responsibility all over the place."
The White Sox were a more potent offense on Saturday.
Adam Dunn and Conor Gillapie each hit two-run shots and Marcus Semien and Jordan Danks each added solo homers.
"Looking at last year, we hit a lot of home runs," Ventura said. "I think at periods we won more games because we got runs faster. Tonight was one of those nights. It was instant, for both teams. There was no manufacturing of runs. Last year, we had it. This year, we didn't have it as much."
It was an unseasonably warm night and the ball was flying out as if it was the middle of summer. All 11 runs came via the home run.
The White Sox opened the scoring with back-to-back homers from Semien and Danks in the bottom of the second inning for a 2-0 lead. It's the fourth time this season the White Sox have hit back-to-back homers.
Semien has only been with the White Sox a short time, but has a long history with Manto.
"I learned a lot from him," Semien said. "Even when I was in the minor leagues, he was our coordinator my first year. He taught me a lot about what to look for, what to do in certain situations. He's helped me become a smarter player."
The advantage grew to 4-0 when Dunn smashed a two-run shot in the third. It was Dunn's 34th homer on the season.
Those homers were surrendered by Royals starter Yordano Ventura (0-1), who allowed four runs and six hits in four innings.
White Sox starter Erik Johnson (3-2) didn't allow a hit through the first 4 1-3 innings.
Mike Moustakas then homered to right field with one out in the fifth inning. Then in the top of the sixth, Billy Butler hit a two-run shot to make it 4-3.
"This park is usually a good park to hit in if you get the ball in the air," Butler said. "Definitely in the (A.L.) Central it's the best park to hit in. You hit the ball in the air and you hit it good, it's going out."
The home runs continued in the bottom of the seventh when Gillaspie smacked the first pitch from left-handed reliever Tim Collins just over the right-field fence for a two-run homer and a 6-3 cushion. Salvador Perez got the runs right back with a two-run shot in the eighth.
White Sox closer Addison Reed worked a scoreless ninth for his 40th save.
NOTES: Assistant hitting coach Harold Baines will handle Manto's job in Sunday's season finale. Manto worked two years as Chicago's hitting coach. ... A day later, there was still a buzz about the unusual catch Royals left-fielder Alex Gordon made Friday on a fly ball by Alexei Ramirez. Gordon ran back and climbed the fence. But then he realized the ball wasn't going that far, so he jumped down and made a casual backhand catch. Many in the ballpark thought the ball was gone, including the person who sets off the fireworks celebrating every White Sox homer. "I wasn't fooled by that," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. "I wasn't in charge of the fireworks. Believe it or not, we don't have a button controlling that in (the dugout)." ... Barring a last-second collapse of epic proportions, the Royals, who led the AL with a 2.55 bullpen ERA entering Saturday, will set a franchise mark. The previous low in a full season was 2.92 in 1976. . The series, and the season, wraps up Sunday with White Sox LHP Jose Quintana (9-6) facing LHP Bruce Chen (8-4).
(© 2013by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.)
