The White Sox showed some early signs of life with singles from Chase Meidroth and Lenyn Sosa in the first and second innings, but couldn’t turn those opportunities into runs. On the mound, Shane Smith outperformed Cole Ragans through the opening frames, surrendering just a walk to Bobby Witt Jr.

Ragans ran into more trouble in the third, pushing his pitch count to 66 after issuing a free pass to Miguel Vargas. Smith, by contrast, cruised through a clean third.

Andrew Vaughn laced a double in the fourth inning thanks to a misplay by Jonathan India in left field, but the momentum fizzled out as the Sox left him stranded on third after a couple of routine outs. Witt Jr. continued to spark the Royals, beginning the bottom half with a single. He quickly swiped second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Salvador Perez earned a walk amidst a foul ball that toppled broadcaster Steve Stone’s monitor. With the infield drawn in, Maikel Garcia capitalized and drove Witt home. Smith settled down and finished the frame strong by striking out Michael Massey and inducing a groundout from Drew Waters.

The fifth inning saw Matt Thaiss reach with a one-out walk, but Ragans found his rhythm again and struck out the next two batters. In the home half, Kyle Isbel dropped down a bunt single, followed by a base hit from India to bring up Witt. After missing a couple of fastballs, Witt connected on a changeup to tally his second RBI. Vaughn prevented further damage by gunning down India at the plate on a grounder, and Perez wrapped the inning with a routine groundout.

Smith returned for the sixth—his longest outing to date—but issued a leadoff walk and was replaced by Brandon Eisert. A sloppy pick-off attempt nearly cost the Sox, but Meidroth recovered in time to initiate a rundown and retire Garcia. Waters earned a walk, but Michael A. Taylor ended the threat with an easy out.

With two gone in the top of the seventh, manager Will Venable went to his bench, calling on Brooks Baldwin for a surprise pinch-hit appearance. Baldwin delivered a single, but Thaiss followed it with a groundout to end the inning.

India continued his solid night with another single in the bottom of the seventh, but Cam Booser, the first Sox pitcher to retire Witt Jr., got the next two outs quickly and cleanly.

Miguel Vargas collected a one-out single in the eighth, but a double play snuffed out the rally. Caleb Freeman made his big-league debut in relief and celebrated with a strikeout of Perez. However, he then walked Garcia, who swiped second, and Waters drove him in with an RBI double, extending Kansas City’s lead to 3-0. After 26 pitches in the inning, Freeman finally got out of the jam with a popup from Freddy Fermin.

Joshua Palacios notched his 100th career hit in the ninth, but with two outs already on the board, Sosa couldn’t keep the rally going. The Sox were shut out, suffering their 25th loss of the season.

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