There were two outs, but the Royals had a runner on first and Salvador Perez, who had already homered twice in the game, was at the plate.
Reliever Craig Kimbrel preserved the lead by striking out Perez. The Sox got an insurance run in the eighth and held on to beat the Royals 10-7 in front of 18,800 at Kauffman Stadium.
“We made our pitches the first time through (getting a groundout),” Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal said of facing Perez. “Hung one the second time, he took us deep. And then made a really good pitch the third time through and he took us deep, so we were going to make sure he wasn’t going to beat us.