KANSAS CITY -- The White Sox got a glimpse of Cole Ragans on Labor Day, providing Chicago an opportunity to evaluate the reigning American League Pitcher of the Month.

For Ragans, the Royals’ left-hander acquired from Texas before the Trade Deadline, it was a matter of picking up in September where he left off in August. Ragans breezed through six innings, allowing one hit on a single to center from Yoán Moncada and facing just one over the minimum before calling it a day in the White Sox 12-1 loss at Kauffman Stadium.

Ragans handled the Chicago lineup so adeptly that he came just a few inches away from facing the minimum. Moncada’s single was erased following a double play ball by Lenyn Sosa, but Oscar Colas was grazed on the thigh by a curveball to lead off the sixth, marking the only inning during Ragans’ time on the mound that the White Sox sent four batters to the plate.

The White Sox were therefore abruptly served notice that Ragans is someone to be reckoned with inside the American League Central for the foreseeable future.

“He has five pitches,” first baseman Andrew Vaughn said. “In today’s game, guys are throwing hard. But a lefty throwing 98 [mph] and commanding his stuff … you don’t see that every day.”

White Sox manager Pedro Grifol was also impressed by what he saw from Ragans.

“He was pretty electric,” Grifol said. “You’ll rarely hear me say that, but he was. Those are the kind of guys we have to beat to go where we want to go.”

White Sox starter Jesse Scholtens had little margin for error in his matchup against Ragans. The right-hander worked just 3 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and five runs. He surrendered homers to Edward Olivares and Nelson Velázquez.

“It wasn’t good,” Scholtens said. “The stuff, the command, the sequencing were all pretty bad today. I don’t really want to take much from this one. Just flush it and move forward.”

Grifol said the Royals, who scored in each of the first five innings -- capped by a seven-run fifth -- were able to make Scholtens pay whenever he made a mistake.

“I know he didn’t feel that good about his fastball today,” Grifol said. “So, he was heavy [on the] breaking ball. When he had to throw the breaking ball over the plate, they squared it up.”

The White Sox have now dropped four in a row and 16 of their last 22 as they try to figure out a way to finish the season on a strong note.

“In games like that, you are always going to get inconsistent effort,” Grifol said. “Am I okay with it? No, I’m not. Am I going to address it? Yes, I am.”

Grifol didn’t go into specifics regarding the topic of improved effort.

“I’m not going to get too deep on the effort,” Grifol said. “I didn’t like it for the most part. We’ll address it.”

The White Sox finished the day with just three hits and hope to regroup Tuesday after dropping their second game in three days by 10 or more runs.

“It’s a gut punch,” Vaughn said.