KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Mike Pelfrey is a 33-year-old native of Wichita, Kan., who began the 2017 baseball season on his third team in three years. Released by the Detroit Tigers on March 30, his career adrift after a series of mediocre years, Pelfrey signed with the White Sox on April 8 and returned to the American League Central, where he had formerly served as a yearly punching bag for Royals hitters.
In 2016, he surrendered 11 runs in 8 2/3 innings across three appearances against the Royals. In his career, he had posted a 6.51 ERA in nine outings against Kansas City. So here was context for Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium, where Pelfrey took the mound for another start, where the Royals' offense threatened to deliver another low point ... before a flash of life in the sixth inning.
Mike Moustakas broke the seal, snapping a 15-inning scoreless drought with an RBI double to right-center. Lorenzo Cain lashed an RBI triple to the same grassy patch. Eric Hosmer settled for a sacrifice fly on a blast that was projected to travel 410 feet.
The sixth-inning blitzkrieg chased Pelfrey and sent the White Sox bullpen scurrying into action. The offensive awakening proved to be the decisive moment in a 6-1 victory, a needed charge as the Royals searched for traction.
Starter Nathan Karns shouldered most of the load Wednesday, allowing just one hit across six scoreless innings. The Royals, 9-17, won for the second time in three nights entering a series finale on Thursday afternoon.
For close to six innings, the evening offered a duel between Pelfrey and Karns, an unlikely "mano a mano" tussle between two back-of-the-rotation starters. Karns emerged victorious, rebounding from consecutive laborious starts. In his two previous outings, he had yielded 10 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings, suffering losses in Texas and Chicago. On Wednesday, he struck out seven _ including four in the sixth inning _ while throwing 95 pitches in six innings, notching his best performance of 2017.
Karns (1-2) lowered his ERA to 4.97 in six appearances. If you subtract an ugly relief outing on April 5 in Minnesota, he has posted a 3.81 ERA in five starts. Acquired in the offseason in a trade that sent Jarrod Dyson to Seattle, he has offered the traits of a classic fifth starter: Inconsistent at times, prone to inefficient moments, yet a solid piece of the rotation.
The Royals still believe Karns can be more. But that will come with time. On Wednesday, his most important test came in the top of the sixth inning. As his pitch count crept toward 90, he struck out the first two hitters of the inning before a third-strike curveball bounced away from catcher Salvador Perez and allowed Yolmer Sanchez to reach base. Moments later, Melky Cabrera walked, putting two runners on in a 0-0 game. But Karns remained locked in, striking out Jose Abreu on a 1-2 curveball.
The strikeout would represent his final hitter of the night. The Royals would finally break through in the bottom half of the inning, turning Pelfrey into Pelfrey. Whit Merrifield opened the inning with a one-out single to center field. Moustakas drove a 1-0 splitter into the gap in right-center, sending Merrifield sprinting around the bases.
The Royals had not scored since Monday's 6-1 victory in the series opener, a win that broke a nine-game losing streak. They stayed on the attack the rest of the night, tacking on two runs in the bottom of the seventh and one in the eighth against the Chicago bullpen.
So now it's onto Thursday, where the Royals can secure their first series victory since finishing off a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels on April 16. Starter Ian Kennedy will take the ball, facing off against left-hander Derek Holland.
The long, steep climb from an April hole continues.
