Royals Burned with Davidson’s Power Surge

KANSAS CITY — The one-man wrecking crew continues to torture the Royals.

White Sox designated hitter Matt Davidson slammed two more home runs, the second a two-run shot in the 11th inning, in a 7-4 victory on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Davidson now has seven home runs in four games here this season — that’s already a record for an opposing player’s home runs at Kauffman Stadium in a single season.

The Royals as a team have hit eight home runs at Kauffman Stadium.

Davidson now is hitting .533 against the Royals this season. He is hitting just .164 against the rest of the league.

In the 11th, Davidson hit a 3-2 sinker that hung up in the zone from reliever Tim Hill.

Meanwhile the Royals’ offense, which was 29th in baseball in average with runners in scoring position coming in, was 1-for-12 with RISP on Friday and is now hitting .180 in that department.

But trailing, 4-2, the Royals tied it in the seventh after Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas led off with singles. After a flyout moved Merrifield to third, he scored on a wild pitch. Later, Moustakas scored when White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, with two out, threw wild to first on a routine grounder from Jorge Soler.

Royals left-hander Danny Duffy finished strong, retiring the last seven batters he faced. But the bottom of the order hurt him as Leury Garcia tripled in a run and scored in the second, and Adam Engel tripled in a run in the fourth.

Duffy also fell prey to Davidson, who blasted another home run to lead off the fourth.