Royals burned with Davidson's power surge

White Sox slugger hits 2 HRs, including go-ahead jack in 11th

April 28th, 2018

KANSAS CITY -- The one-man wrecking crew continues to torture the Royals.
White Sox designated hitter Matt Davidson slammed two more home runs, the second a two-run shot in the 11th inning, in a 7-4 victory on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Davidson now has seven home runs in four games here this season -- that's already a record for an opposing player's home runs at Kauffman Stadium in a single season.
"We got to find a way to keep him in the park," manager Ned Yost said. "We're leaving balls up over the plate and he's not missing them. He's hammering them."
The Royals as a team have hit eight home runs at Kauffman Stadium.
Davidson now is hitting .533 against the Royals this season. He is hitting just .164 against the rest of the league.
In the 11th, Davidson hit a 3-2 sinker that hung up in the zone from reliever .

"It stayed up and started up too high and didn't have the action I wanted it to," Hill said. "I didn't want to walk him, but at the same time, you don't want to give him a hitter's pitch. Just one of those things. Do better next time."
Meanwhile the Royals' offense, which was 29th in baseball in average with runners in scoring position coming in, was 1-for-12 with RISP on Friday and is now hitting .180 in that department.

But trailing, 4-2, the Royals tied it in the seventh after Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas led off with singles. After a flyout moved Merrifield to third, he scored on a wild pitch. Later, Moustakas scored when White Sox shortstop , with two out, threw wild to first on a routine grounder from .
Royals left-hander Danny Duffy finished strong, retiring the last seven batters he faced. But the bottom of the order hurt him as tripled in a run and scored in the second, and tripled in a run in the fourth.
Duffy also fell prey to Davidson, who blasted another home run to lead off the fourth.
"I don't often pitch around people," said Duffy, who went six innings and gave up six hits and four runs. "I've maybe done it two or three times in my career. But I tried to tonight with him and hung a 3-1 slider. What do you do? He's red-hot."
MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Moustakas continued his strong start to the season and belted his eighth home run with one out in the first, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead. It was projected to have traveled 438 feet to left-center, according to Statcast™.

"I've seen him hit some balls hard the opposite way," Yost said, "but that ball was crushed."
HE SAID IT
"I've had nastier stuff lately than I ever have had. I'm just not getting that knockout punch on 0-2 or 1-2." -- Duffy

UP NEXT
Royals right-hander will be the 26th man and make his Major League debut against righty and the White Sox in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader at 1:15 p.m. CT. Oaks, acquired in a trade with the Dodgers in January, was 1-2 with a 3.09 ERA at Triple-A Omaha. Left-hander (0-2, 8.59 ERA) will start the nightcap at 7:15. Skoglund gave up four runs over five innings on Sunday in Detroit.