Derek Hill’s pinch-hit homer bails out White Sox in 6-5 win over Royals

Pinch-hitter Derek Hill smashed his third homer of the season to take the lead in the eighth. | (Getty Images) Timely hitting and some clutch home runs helped propel the White Sox (20-21) to their third straight win, defeating the Royals (19-23), 6-5. Four of the seven South Side hits were for extra bases, with three dingers and a double, including two clutch bombs that both took the lead at different points in the game.

The pitching struggled early, but the offense carried its weight by keeping the Good Guys in the contest until the bullpen established itself late in the game, with the final two arms not giving up a hit. While it definitely wasn’t his best outing, Erick Fedde mostly did his job, eating five innings for the Good Guys, allowing two runs on six hits with a walk and two strikeouts. In today’s game thread, I referenced how Fedde has been making a habit of surrendering home runs, and naturally, he gave up two more in tonight’s start: a solo shot each for Bobby Witt Jr.

and Salvador Pérez in the top of the first, 2-0. The South Siders chased a two-run lead for the first four frames, but Fedde was able to settle in a bit after the round-trippers, hoping the offense would wake up. The Sox finally had an opportunity after loading the bases in the bottom of the third, with a base hit from Sam Antonacci starting things off, followed by back-to-back walks from Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas.

After four straight balls, Colson Montgomery came up to the plate in a prime situation, but he struck out on pitches that almost certainly would have been balls. Why he was even remotely considering swinging after so many balls in a row is beyond me — just one of those at-bats. Finally coming alive in the fifth, the South Side bats posted a five-spot, first tying, then taking a three-run advantage to turn the game on its head.