NEW YORK, 10 April 2006 — Mike Sweeney hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Kansas City Royals rallied to beat the Chicago White Sox 4-3 in American League play Saturday in Kansas City. It was the second straight win for the Royals over the defending World Series champions, who dropped their fourth straight game after winning on Opening Day.
Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters that he certainly wasn’t going to panic after the first five games of the season, despite yet another disappointing loss.
“We’ve been here before,” Guillen said.
“This isn’t the first (bad) start I’ve had. I believe in the team I have, I believe my guys go out there and give me 100 percent every time they go out.” The Royals are now 2-2 and Royals manager Buddy Bell is happy with the way his club is winning games.
“Not only did we bounce back, but we bounced back again,” Bell told reporters.
Kansas City trailed 6-0 in Friday’s series opener but rallied back to win 11-7, much to the delight of their fans at Kauffman Stadium.
Those fans were booing Sweeney for his 1-for-12 slump when he stepped to the plate in the eight, but those boos quickly turned to cheers as he hit a pitch from Chicago reliever Cliff Politte into the left field seats to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead.
“It was a good feeling,” Sweeney told reporters. “I know in the long run our fans will be behind us and we hope to put up a win for the fans daily. It’s the mark of the character of the guys on this team that we’re not going to quit.” The Royals used five pitchers, including starter Denny Batista, who allowed just one hit and one run over six innings despite walking five batters. He also had five strikeouts.
Four relievers finished up, including Ambiorix Burgos, who pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save. Mark Grudzielanek had three hits for the Royals, while Reggis Sanders drove in a pair of runs for the winners.
A.J. Pierzynski had two of Chicago’s six hits and drove in a run.
White Sox starter Javier Vazquez went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. Politte was charged with two runs on two hits in 1/3 inning and was tagged with the loss.
In Cleveland, Jason Johnson pitched seven shutout innings as the Indians blanked the Minnesota Twins 3-0. Travis Hafner homered, had three hits and drove in two runs for Cleveland, now 4-1 after an Opening Day loss. Johnson allowed four hits and Bob Wickman pitched the ninth for his second save. Scott Baker (0-1), allowed three runs on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings as the Twins slipped to 1-4.
In Toronto, Gregg Zaun hit a go-ahead home run as the Blue Jays doubled the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 8-4. Frank Catalanotto had three hits and drove in two runs for the Blue Jays, who rallied from a 4-0 deficit.
