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👑 Friday, April 11 • White Sox Series Game 2 👑

Dominant start, decisive 7th, messy ninth.

Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals | Kauffman Stadium
Weather: Clear skies, 53° | Wind out to CF (12 mph) | Attendance: 30,259 | First pitch: 7:40 PM ET

Pregame Memo (Manager's Desk)

Last night’s walk-off was the kind of win that can either sharpen you or make you sloppy—no in-between. I told the room the same thing I tell myself when the schedule turns into a four-game grind: don’t chase the sweep on Day 2—chase clean innings and clean at-bats. Chicago’s record is ugly, but the bats can put together real contact when you give them counts. And with the way our rotation’s lined up this weekend, this was a tone game.
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Chicago White Sox Series Snapshot

Coming in, Chicago was sliding (1–5) but not toothless—decent team average early, shaky run prevention, the kind of profile that punishes you if you start sleepwalking. We had our matchup grid posted for the whole set, but tonight was the one circled in blue ink: get Ragans back on track and make them earn every base.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP Z. Eflin (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs RHP J. Iriarte (0-1, 16.88 ERA)
LHP C. Ragans (0-1, 5.06 ERA) vs RHP N. Nastrini (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
RHP H. Brown (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs RHP L. Severino (0-1, 6.35 ERA)
RHP S. Turnbull (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs RHP B. Lively (1-0, 2.70 ERA)

The top 5 players on their team are:
1. 1B Colson Montgomery (Age: 23, Overall: 75, Potential: 5.0)
2. SP Drew Thorpe (24, 60, 4.0)
3. CF Luis Robert Jr. (27, 55, 3.0)
4. RP Thomas Pannone (30, 50, 2.5)
5. CL Prelander Berroa (24, 50, 2.5)

Series Matchup Board — Chicago White Sox Series Game 2

• LHP C. Ragans (0-1, 5.06 ERA) vs RHP N. Nastrini (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

Two young starters in very different moods. Ragans came in with something to prove—stuff is never the question, it’s whether the inning breathes or suffocates when traffic shows up. Nastrini is the type who dares you to beat yourself; if you chase, he’ll stack strikeouts and keep the pitch count clean.
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Game Day Log — Royals vs. White Sox (Game 2)

Manager’s Clipboard

From the manager chair, the message to our hitters was blunt: make him throw the ball over the plate, then punish the mistake—because we weren’t getting many gifts tonight.

Inning-by-Inning Beats (Dugout View)

1st–2nd
Early on it was a pitcher’s duel with teeth. Ragans came out crisp—two early punchouts and loud contact that stayed in the yard. We had a first-inning chance when Maikel Garcia walked and Bobby Witt Jr. singled, but Nastrini wriggled free with strikeouts when he needed them. You could feel right away: runs were going to be expensive.

3rd
We stole one the hard way—pressure and aggression. Witt struck out but reached on a passed ball, then immediately stole second to force the defense into motion. One batter later, Hunter Renfroe punched a single through, and we sent Witt hard—safe at the plate with no throw, and suddenly it’s 1–0 without a “pretty” hit. That’s manager baseball: manufacture when the opponent’s starter is in control.

4th–5th
Ragans stayed locked in. Chicago finally barreled a couple (a pair of doubles), but he kept stranding runners by finishing counts—fastball up, breaker down, and the inning ended before it could become a problem. From the dugout, it felt like watching him choose outs.

6th
We had a brief opening—Salvador Perez walked after falling behind 0–2—but didn’t add on. Still 1–0, and that’s the exact scoreline where you manage every pitch like it’s the ninth.

7th
This was the separator inning, and it came from patience plus one big swing. Mark Payton walked, then Garcia doubled to put real pressure on their relief, and Payton scored (again, no throw home) for 2–0. One pitch later, Vinnie Pasquantino did the rest—a two-run homer to right for 4–0. The dugout got loud because that’s what you’re begging for in a tight game: one swing that changes how everyone breathes.

8th
We turned it over cleanly: Huascar Brazoban took the eighth and put it in a box—quick outs, no drama, keep the door shut.

9th
And then the reminder: nobody’s going quietly. We asked Jalen Beeks to finish it, and Chicago finally landed their punch—walks set the table and Nelson Velazquez hit a two-run homer to make it 4–2. Not how you draw it up, but we got the last outs and kept the win in the ledger where it belongs.
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Final

Royals 4, White Sox 2
Royals (6 H, 0 E) | White Sox (5 H, 0 E)

Ragans earned it—7.0 scoreless innings, 3 hits, 8 K—and when I said afterward that he “dug down and got some outs when he needed to,” I meant the middle innings where a lesser version of him would've leaked runs.



Ragans Now 1-1 Following 4-2 Win

Kansas City Pitching Scoreline

Pitcher                  IP     H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PI  ERA
C. Ragans W (1-1)        7.0    3    0    0    2    8    0    86  2.19
H. Brazoban              1.0    1    0    0    0    1    0    19  0.00
J. Beeks                 1.0    1    2    2    2    1    1    22  4.50

Front Office Note / Takeaways

From the GM chair, this one matters because it’s repeatable: front-line starter sets the tone, lineup finds a way to score without needing a barrage, bullpen mostly holds structure. Ragans looking like himself is a franchise-level comfort.

In manager mode, though, I’m still circling the same lesson in red: closeout innings are sacred. We can’t turn a four-run ninth into a stress test with free bases—especially over a four-game set where bullpen leverage stacks up fast. But we took the win, we banked another series step, and we keep rolling—For the Crown, always.
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Around the League

Ronald Acuna Jr. torched Arizona (5-for-6 with a homer) as Atlanta rolled 17–4, and he’s already hitting .448 with three early bombs. Ronald Acuna Jr. singled in the 1st, hit a two-run home run off Eduardo Rodriguez in the 2nd, singled in the 3rd, hit an RBI double in the 4th, singled in the 6th and flied out in the 8th.

"Boy, I was on the mark today," said the Atlanta right fielder after the game. "I could see the ball real well. It's a great feeling to do this. And besides, 5-for-6 won't hurt your batting average like 0-for-5 will."
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👑 FOR THE CROWN — ALWAYS 👑

Kansas City Royals | Regular Season 2025 - Game 8



(OOTP25 Royals Journey — GM/Manager's Dual Log)