KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chase Meidroth hit a long fly down the left-field line that curved foul during a third-inning at-bat Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals.
Meidroth straightened it out on the next pitch, hitting a three-run home run to left-center.
The Chicago White Sox second baseman collected a career-high five RBIs in a 14-11 victory over the Kansas City Royals in front of 15,785 at Kauffman Stadium.
“When you come through for your team, there’s not a better feeling,” Meidroth said. “Getting guys crossing the plate, it’s not easy to do that every day. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Meidroth homered for the second straight game, helping the Sox remain one game behind the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central with five to play. The Guardians defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Tuesday.
The Sox have a strong grip on the third AL wild-card spot, leading the Texas Rangers by three games. They hold the tiebreaker edge over the Rangers after winning the season series 4-2, so they can clinch a playoff berth Wednesday night with another win over the Royals and a Rangers loss to the New York Mets.
The Sox were in control early Tuesday, scoring in each of the first four innings. They added five runs in the seventh and held on to win the opener of the three-game series.
“Anytime you put up a good amount of runs, much less 14, that’s a great day,” left fielder Randal Grichuk said. “We were all swinging and contributing from everyone, one through nine. So that’s always encouraging to see.”
Meidroth began the scoring with a two-run single in the first. Brenton Doyle’s home run to lead off the second was the team’s 200th of the season, making it 3-0.
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That was the first of four home runs for the Sox. Meidroth’s three-run homer in the third extended the lead to 6-0.
“He’s finding different clubs in the bag,” manager Will Venable said. “We know Chase has good plate discipline. He’s willing to pull out the smaller club and use the whole field. He’s tapping into some slug as well. So really cool to see him grow as a player and drive the ball to all fields.”
Grichuk hit a three-run home run in the fourth, stretching the lead to 9-1. He finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 4-for-5 with two doubles.
Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV allowed nine runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts in four innings.
“Up and down the lineup, saw some really big performances from some guys,” Venable said. “Came out with a game plan against Lynch and executed it. It was really nice to see.”
Sox starter Anthony Kay pitched into the fifth. The lefty allowed four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk in four-plus innings.
“They did a pretty good job of hitting some good pitches,” Kay said. “I missed my spot a bunch on those hits. Overall felt pretty good. Delivery felt good. They just hit the ball.”
He received defensive support in the first when right fielder Braden Montgomery threw out a runner at third base. Grichuk made a nice running catch in the left-field corner to rob Maikel Garcia of an extra-base hit.
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Kay exited with two on and no outs in the fifth and the Sox leading 9-3. Noah Schultz retired the next three batters with a flyout and two groundouts.
Schultz retired all six batters he faced, striking out one, and was credited with the win.
The Sox offense wasn’t done. Munetaka Murakami hit a two-run home run, his 33rd of the season, in the five-run seventh.
“I just wanted to get a good at-bat and that’s what I did,” Murakami said through an interpreter.
It was the ninth time this year the Sox have hit at least four home runs in a game.
They withstood a late rally from the Royals, including a grand slam in the ninth by Vinnie Pasquantino, to begin their final road series of the regular season on a positive note.
“We are in the spot that we want to be,” Venable said. “We understand that we are taking this a game at a time and understand what we have in front of us to accomplish. It starts with playing a good game (Wednesday) and that’s what the focus is.”