KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Will this be the game that pulls the Royals out of their September funk?
The Royals managed to beat the White Sox on Monday night, 4-3, and it was perhaps the most improbable win of the season -- or even in recent memory.
The Royals tied it in the ninth when pinch runner Jarrod Dyson scored all the way from second on a wild pitch (he was running on the pitch). Then, after Nori Aoki doubled, pinch runner Terrance Gore scored all the way from second on Lorenzo Cain's infield chopper over the mound, all to the delight of 21,390 fans at The K.
The Royals remained 1 1/2 games behind Detroit in the AL Central.
"Most improbable win? Yeah," manager Ned Yost said. "It was exciting. Speed is exciting. It's fun. We needed this after yesterday, and that was a tough loss.
"That locker room is loud right now."
Cain got doused with Gatorade and shaving cream after his infield hit.
"How do I look? A mess?" he asked reporters, smiling. "Oh, man. This was great. We just kept fighting back. We'll keep fighting until the end, man."
James Shields turned in a decent start, managing seven innings and giving up just three runs to keep the Royals close.
"It seems we haven't even mentioned James, but he pitched a great game tonight," Yost said. "I think the hardest-hit ball was the first one of the game, and then they just hit balls off the end of their bats."
3 UP
-- Omar's big hit. All the ninth-inning heroics wouldn't have mattered if the Royals' Omar Infante doesn't get the offense going with a run-scoring hit in the seventh. With one out and Eric Hosmer on second in the seventh, Infante scorched a single to left for an RBI. Too far and few between lately for this offense.
-- Nori keeps being Nori. If there is one Royals hitter who won't go meekly into the night, it's Aoki, who had four more hits Monday night and also walked. He's hitting .318 with a .370 on-base percentage since Aug. 27. Aoki has consistently delivered solid at-bats while his teammates have collapsed under the playoff heat. "He's just been great for us," Yost said.
-- The speed. What else can you say about Dyson's heads-up play? With two out in the ninth and the Royals down by a run, Dyson pinch-ran for Mike Moustakas, who had doubled. Dyson stole third and scored on a wild pitch -- on the same play. Incredible. "I could see the ball get away, so I kept going," Dyson said. "I saw (the catcher) had his back to me as I was around third. ... You just keep going." Then Gore, equally as fast as Dyson, pinch-ran for Aoki, who had doubled. Gore scored from second on an infield single from Cain. More than incredible. "I knew they weren't going to get me at first," Cain said. "Then I saw them bobble the ball and I thought (Gore) could get in."
3 DOWN
-- The rally killers. The Royals had great chances in the sixth and seventh innings to get back in the game and even overtake the lowly White Sox. But with two on and none out in the sixth, Alex Gordon rolled into a 4-6-3 double play, essentially killing the inning. With a runner on third and two out, Sal Perez struck out, naturally. The Royals got within 3-1 in the seventh and had a great chance to tie it or take the lead. But with runners on first and second and one out, Alcides Escobar rolled into a routine double play, again 4-6-3.
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-- Sal's impatience. It's virtually mind-numbing how the Royals continue to hack at every pitch they see, even though they rarely do any damage when they do make contact. Perez, for example, has not taken a walk since Aug. 12. That's not a typo -- Aug. 12. He now has gone 119 plate appearances without taking a walk. During that span he has a .232 average and on-base percentage. Perez also failed to block a low pitch from Shields in the third inning on a strikeout that allowed a runner to score. Billy Butler had a chance to tie it when he came up with runners on first and third and two out in the eighth. But Butler hacked at the first pitch he saw and tapped out to shortstop.
-- The slumping Gordo. Pretty much the entire Royals offense has been in a miserable slump for over three weeks. Gordon is right in the middle of that funk. He was hitting just .129 since Aug. 29 until he blooped a run-scoring single in the eighth.
You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email him at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.
