White Sox miss chance in 9th against Royals

CHICAGO — With their postseason hopes fading, the Royals desperately needed a pick-me-up.

And they got it from rookie Whit Merrifield, who doubled in two runs off White Sox reliever Chris Beck in the seventh inning to put the Royals up for good on their way to a 6-5 win on Saturday night at U.S. Cellular Field.

Kansas City remained four games behind Baltimore in the American League Wild Card race.

Merrifield’s double scored speedsters Terrance Gore and Jarrod Dyson, who were running on the pitch. And it gave rookie Kevin McCarthy, who recorded the final out of the sixth, his first Major League win.

The Royals got a scare when closer Wade Davis ran into trouble in the ninth and the White Sox had the potential tying run on third with one out. But Davis struck out Jose Abreu and Justin Morneau to end it.

“We had a shot at him,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “You don’t really get that many opportunities against Wade. He proves every time he goes out there how good he is, and for us, we rarely had some opportunities against him. Tonight, we were in a good spot right there, once [Adam Eaton] hit his double. I think that he’s so good in tough situations that he just ended up coming out on top. We had our opportunity.”

Added Royals manager Ned Yost, “He had really good stuff — 97-mph fastball. He got in trouble, but he does what he does best — he buckles down and gets out of it.”

After a rough start, White Sox starter James Shields offered up a quality start, going six innings while allowing four hits and three runs. He walked four and struck out five. Royals starter Edinson Volquez gave up nine hits and four runs through five.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDBig game from James: Shields allowed two homers, but was much better than he’s been the past month. After allowing Eric Hosmer’s two-run blast in the first, he gave up just two more hits in the …

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