Wade Davis leads Royals to 5th straight win
By Brad Rowland
Don’t look now, but the Kansas City Royals are heating up.
Wade Davis led Kansas City to their 5th consecutive win with a 1-0 victory over the hapless Chicago White Sox on Saturday night, and with the win, the Royals have climbed within one game of .500 at 50-51 on the season. Davis was spectacular throughout the night, allowing only 4 hits over 7.1 innings, and he left the bullpen in great shape to complete a 1-0 shutout.
Davis’ performance was a bit surprising as, even with the shutout outing, he has just a 5.50 ERA on the season. While the transition back from the bullpen to the rotation hasn’t gone smoothly, it is certainly encouraging to see him turn in this type of showing, even against a bad Chicago team.
Chris Sale, the White Sox ace, was equally fantastic, throwing a 7-hit complete game while allowing the game’s only run. It is frankly a shame to see Sale toiling in obscurity in Chicago at this stage, but he was absolutely brilliant during nearly all of his 115 pitches.
Even with the latest “surge”, the Royals are 7 games out of the AL Central. However, the Tigers have a couple of issues of their own (bullpen, etc.), and if Kansas City can continue to pitch like they have, it is at least plausible that they could mount a legitimate challenge in the season’s final months.