Something extra

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —It's only appropriate, really, that Sunday's rubber match between the Royals and the White Sox at Kauffman Stadium went into extra innings. After all, the first two games of the series, which were played back-to-back on Saturday night, did too.

But here's something else that was just as fitting: with both teams battling fatigue in the late innings, it was catcher Jason Kendall — the man whose stamina and determination to play every day still marvels his teammates — that had the game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning of a 3-2 Royals victory.

"That guy, because of what he has to do to prepare to play every day and the fact he doesn't take any shortcuts, amazes me," said pitcher Sean O'Sullivan, who picked up his first win as a Royal by pitching an inning of relief. "It's only appropriate that he's the guy to finish off a stretch of three games in 24 hours."

The victory, which came before an announced crowd of 18,887, is the Royals (53-71) fifth in their last seven games. And the hero was definitely Kendall, who came up with a runner on third and two outs and drove a 3-2 fastball to the left field gap.

"I was looking for a pitch I could drive," said Kendall, who finished 2-for-5 with two RBI. "He threw the ball in the middle of the plate and I put a good swing on it,"

But you can also give a big assist in this one to Royals outfielder Gregor Blanco, who set the stage in the inning by drawing a two-out walk off White Sox reliever Scott Linebrink (1-1) and stealing second (it was close) and third (there was no throw).

Blanco said he took off for third because the White Sox were ignoring him.

"If they were going to give it to me," Blanco said, "I was going to take it."

Starter Zack Greinke's performance shouldn't be lost in the shuffle, either. With a tired bullpen needing some rest, Greinke did yeoman's work on Sunday, allowing only two runs on nine hits over eight innings and throwing season-high 120 pitches. His control was on, too, as he threw 81 strikes and struck out nine while only walking one.

"I knew no matter how good or bad I pitched I was going to be in there for like 120 pitches," said Greinke, who added that he figured he'd better pitch well if that was going to be the case.

Greinke's counterpart on the mound, Chicago lefty John Danks, wasn't quite as good. However, he turned in a solid performance of his own, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings while striking out five.

Both teams did their offensive damage early. The White Sox (67-57) struck first in the top of second with a RBI double by A.J. Pierzynski, but the Royals tied the score in the bottom of the inning when Wilson Betemit drove a 3-2 cutter over the left field fence for his eighth homer of the season.

The Royals seized a 2-1 lead in the third thanks to Kendall's first RBI single of the game, but the White Sox came storming back in the fourth when Alex Rios tripled to lead off the inning and Paul Konerko brought him home with a single to right.

Each team had its fair share of chances to take the lead over the next five innings, but the score remained 2-2. Chicago, in particular, blew a number of chances, as the White Sox had a baserunner reach second in each of the last four innings and still failed to bring a run home.

Some of that obviously had to do with some clutch pitching by Greinke (who left after the eighth), Joakim Soria (who pitched the ninth) and O'Sullivan (who pitched the 10th and improved to 2-4) before Kendall ended the game.

Regardless, it marked the first time the Royals have played three consecutive extra-inning games since Jun. 9-11, 2000, when they hosted Pittsburgh at Kauffman Stadium.

And just like they did back then, the Royals wound up taking two of the three games in the series. However, you could argue the feat is more impressive this time around because the Royals and White Sox played an entire series — 31 innings — in 22 hours.

Afterward, O'Sullivan was just one of a bunch of weary Royals who admitted they had never experienced anything like it.

"And I hope," O'Sullivan said with a laugh, "I don't do it again for a while."