KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chase Meidroth hit a long fly down the left-field line that curved foul during a third-inning at-bat on Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals.
Meidroth straightened it out the next pitch, hitting a three-run home run to left-center field.
The second baseman collected a career-high five RBIs for the Chicago White Sox in a 14-11 victory over the Kansas City Royals in front of 15,785 at Kauffman Stadium.
“When you come through for your team, there’s not a better feeling,” Meidroth said. “Getting guys crossing the plate, it’s not easy to do that every day. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Meidroth homered for the second straight game, helping the second-place Sox remain one game behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central. The Guardians defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Tuesday. The Sox and Guardians each have five games remaining in the regular season.
The Sox also didn’t lose any ground as the third AL wild-card team.
They were in control from early on Tuesday, scoring in each of the first four innings. They added five runs in the seventh and held on to win the opener of the three-game series.
“Any time you put up a good amount of runs, much less 14, that’s a great day,” left fielder Randal Grichuk said. “We were all swinging and contributing from everyone, 1-through-9. So that’s always encouraging to see.”
Chicago White Sox center fielder Tristan Peters can’t get to a grand slam hit by Kansas City Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino during the ninth inning of a game Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Meidroth began the scoring with a two-run single in the first inning.
Brenton Doyle’s home run to lead off the second was the team’s 200th of the season, making it 3-0.
That was the first of four home runs in the game for the Sox.
Meidroth’s three-run home run in the third extended the lead to 6-0.
“He’s finding different clubs in the bag,” manager Will Venable said. “We know Chase has good plate discipline. He’s willing to pull out the smaller club and use the whole field. He’s tapping into some slug as well. So really cool to see him grow as a player here. And drive the ball really to all fields.”
Grichuk hit a three-run home run in the fourth, stretching the Sox lead to 9-1. Grichuk finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 4-for-5 (he doubled twice).
Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV allowed nine runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts in four innings.
“Up and down the lineup, saw some really big performances from some guys,” Venable said. “Came out with a game plan against Lynch and executed it. It was really nice to see.”
Sox starter Anthony Kay pitched into the fifth inning. The lefty allowed four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk in four-plus innings.
“I felt like they did a pretty good job of hitting some good pitches,” Kay said. “Overall I missed my spot a bunch on those hits. Overall felt pretty good. Delivery felt good. They just hit the ball.”
He received defensive support in the first inning when right fielder Braden Montgomery threw out a runner at third base. Grichuk made a nice running catch in the left-field corner to rob Maikel Garcia of an extra-base hit.
‘Incredible opportunity’: Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable on the season’s final stretch
Kay exited with two on and no outs in the fifth and the Sox leading 9-3. Noah Schultz retired the next three batters with a flyout and two groundouts.
Schultz retired all six batters he faced over two innings of work, striking out one, and was credited with the win.
The Sox weren’t done from an offensive standpoint. Munetaka Murakami hit a two-run home run, his 33rd of the season, as part of a five-run seventh.
“I just wanted to get a good at-bat and that’s what I did,” Murakami said through an interpreter.
It was the ninth time this year the team hit at least four home runs in a game.
The Sox withstood a late rally from the Royals, including a grand slam in the ninth by Vinnie Pasquantino, to begin their final road series of the regular season on a positive note.
“We are in the spot that we want to be,” Venable said. “We understand that we are taking this a game at a time and understand what we have in front of us to accomplish. It starts with playing a good game (Wednesday) and that’s what the focus is.”