They're finally starting to look the part. After winning the third of a three-game set against the Chicago White Sox 4-1 to take the series, the Kansas City Royals looked crisp in every facet of the game this afternoon, from the pitching of Bruce Chen to timely hits from Jeff Francoeur and Alex Gordon.
For Chen's part, the veteran starter went 6 innings allowing only 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 4. Greg Holland and Joakim Soria pitched three shutout innings between them, allowing only 1 hit total in shutting down the ChiSox line-up near the end. It was a dominating performance against a line-up with plenty of power, including Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin, who went a combined 0-8.
As for the Royals at the plate, Eric Hosmer hit an early home run that just went over the fence after bouncing off of the top of the wall in the first inning. That gave the Royals an early lead and Francoeur cemented it with a two more RBI, giving him 55 total on the year. Gordon also went 2-4 with 2 runs scored.
With the win, the Royals move to 36-51 and are now 10.5 behind the Indians for the AL Central lead.