White Sox 8, Royals 0
By his standards, Matt Davidson had a rough game in the opener of the White Sox’s day-night doubleheader Saturday.
Davidson, you see, made two outs. And didn’t hit a single home run.
That’s practically sobering for a guy who set a major league record Friday night with his seventh homer this season at Kauffman Stadium. No player had ever gone yard so many times in a visiting ballpark before May 1.
Davidson still had three hits Saturday, but he was not the featured attraction in the Sox’s 8-0 victory.
Carson Fulmer enjoyed the best start of his young career, allowing four hits and three walks over seven innings.
“Fulmer did a heck of a job giving us length,” said Joe McEwing, who was filling in for manager Rick Renteria. “That was continued growth for him.”
Fulmer threw 109 pitches and said he felt strong at the end: “I would’ve gone out there and thrown the eighth if I could’ve. I train a lot. I train to have the stamina to go all nine innings as much as I can. From the first pitch to the last pitch, I felt I was real consistent in everything that I did.”
Outfielder Daniel Palko, who made his big-league debut last week in Chicago, went 4-for-5 with a double and a three-run homer. He had no major league hits until Saturday.
“Every day here is special,” Palka said about life with the big club. “Every day you get to play a game for your job is special to me.”
McEwing actually planned to pinch-hit for Palko in the seventh, sending Trayce Thompson to the on-deck circle. But before McEwing could tell home-plate umpire Greg Gibson about the substitution, Royals manager Ned Yost strolled to the mound to switch pitchers, from lefty Eric Stout to right-hander Burch Smith.
McEwing left Palka in, gaining the favorable right-lefty matchup.
“Worked out pretty good,” Palka said with a grin.
The Sox improved to 5-0 against the Royals but 3-16 against the rest of baseball.
The Sox have their first three-game winning streak of the season, and they tried to make it four at 7:15 p.m. Saturday night behind right-hander Dylan Covey, who was promoted from Class AAA Charlotte. Covey got rocked last year with the Sox, going 0-7 with a 7.71 ERA.
Right-hander Gregory Infante was optioned to Charlotte after the first game.
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