KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two results had to happen for the Chicago White Sox to qualify for the postseason Wednesday.
The Texas Rangers had to lose to the New York Mets. And the Sox had to defeat the Kansas City Royals.
The Mets did their part, but the Sox suffered a late 5-4 loss to the Royals in front of 17,114 at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals went ahead in the seventh with an RBI double by Maikel Garcia, then held on to deny the Sox the opportunity to clinch a postseason berth.
“It’s baseball,” catcher Kyle Teel said. “Come back ready to play tomorrow. Today’s over with, how can we learn from it, be ready to win tomorrow.”
The Sox also missed out on a chance to tie the Cleveland Guardians for first place in the American League Central. The Sox still trail the Guardians, who lost 1-0 to the Boston Red Sox, by one game. Both teams have four games remaining.
The Sox remain three games ahead of the Rangers for the final AL wild-card slot. The Rangers lost to the Mets 7-2.
The Sox fell into a deep hole early Wednesday, trailing 4-0 after the first inning. Garcia drove in two with a single through the drawn-in infield. He scored on a double by Vinnie Pasquantino against opener Bryan Hudson. Pasquantino later scored when shortstop Colson Montgomery’s throw got past first baseman Munetaka Murakami on a grounder by Michael Massey.
Hudson allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits in one-third of an inning.
“Just some ground balls that found the hole,” manager Will Venable said. “(Hudson has) been so good for us. As far as our approach today with opening for (Erick) Fedde, that combination of (Hudson) to Fedde has been really effective for us, and today just didn’t work out.
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“Credit the Royals for putting the ball in play, finding the holes, and we weren’t able to stop them that first inning.”
The Sox rallied with four runs in the third. Teel drove in two with a single. Miguel Vargas had an RBI single and Murakami followed with an RBI double, tying the score.
“Just took White Sox baseball,” Teel said of the team’s response. “We just do what we do. We always fight, no matter what.”
Fedde fought off the effects of a hard grounder to his right calf in the second to remain in the game. The right-hander allowed four hits, walked two and struck out two in 2 2/3 scoreless innings.
“It got the muscle of the calf pretty good,” Fedde said. “X-rays were clean. Everything looks good. Just got to work through the muscle soreness and should be all right.
“It didn’t feel great, but I felt like I was still able to compete at a pretty high level. Not the worst, but I could tell they didn’t want to push me too far.”
The score remained tied until the seventh, when Garcia drove in Bobby Witt Jr. with a two-out double against reliever Hagen Smith.
Venable said they talked about setting up a lefty-lefty matchup by walking the right-handed-hitting Garcia to get to Pasquantino.
“It was just below the threshold as far as the gap between them that we typically do it,” he said. “In hindsight, you wish that maybe you would. But the process was good.”
The Sox had one hit over the final three innings, a two-out single in the ninth by Braden Montgomery. Sam Antonacci lined out to center to end the game.
The Sox will have another opportunity in Thursday’s series finale. A win, and they clinch.
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“It’s the goal when you come into the year to get a ticket into the playoffs, and then anything can happen,” Fedde said. “Being that close is exciting. It proves all the hard work these guys have put in. We look to earn that tomorrow.”