Royals almost come back to win, but almost isn’t enough in 6-5 loss

Q: What was the final score of the Royals vs. White Sox game on May 12, 2026?

The final score was 6-5 in favor of the Chicago White Sox.

Q: Who hit the home runs for the Kansas City Royals in the game?

Bobby Baseball and Salvador Perez both hit solo home runs for the Royals.

Q: What mistake did Matt Strahm make during the game?

Matt Strahm gave up a home run to Derek Hill in the eighth inning, which ultimately led to the White Sox's victory.

Q: How does this loss affect the Kansas City Royals' standings?

With this loss, the Royals are tied for last place in the AL Central and have a poor record of 6-13 away from Kauffman Stadium.

May 12, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Matt Strahm (25) reacts after giving up a solo home run to Chicago White Sox right fielder Derek Hill during the eight inning at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images The Kansas City Royals built a 2-0 lead and came back to tie the game at 5-5, showing some fight. But in Major League Baseball, “almost” doesn’t cut it, and the Chicago White Sox where the victors in tonight’s contest. The Royals struck first. Bobby Baseball smacked a solo home run to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. The Royals also struck second, in the same inning! Salvador Perez knocked his own solo home run. At this point, let’s go to a few sentences I said in the pregame:

Welp, Salvador Perez is hitting cleanup, dragging his .233 OBP along with him. Perez wasn’t in the lineup on Sunday, so there was maybe some hope that he’d be further down the lineup when he reappeared. The answer is: no. I’m sure that won’t negatively impact the game at all tonight, but we’ll quote these sentences and see if that’s correct truly or ironically. The good news is that the sentence was correct (truly), at least here! And Salvy did get another hit later, so he was legitimately productive there in his return to the game. Maybe some more off days are in order, TBH. On the pitching side of things, the Royals sent to the mound in place of the injured . Kolek, somewhat famously, had started his Royals career with six consecutive quality starts. For four innings, Kolek sure seemed like it would be another quality start. But he ran into trouble in the fifth inning. With one out (seems like a fake name, tbh) hit a home run. Sam Antonacci (also seems fake, who are these people) hit a double. And with up, the looming threat of a Murakami bomb to truly push the game over the edge was a problem. But it wasn’t Murakami who hit the bomb. That would be (seems like a name from a Final Fantasy game, but I digress) two batters later. That gave the White Sox a 5-2 lead. The Royals bats weren’t done, though. In the sixth inning, walked and hit a rocket line drive out to center field. Were the Royals finally going to do some damage? Yes, as it turns out. doubled to put runners on second and third. And for the second time in a week, hit a key RBI double. Later, singled him home to tie the game. It was exciting. The excitement wound end rather unceremoniously. Matt Strahm replaced , and though he pitched a mostly clean eighth inning, his one mistake was a home run meatball swatted by Derek Hill. That gave the White Sox a 6-5 lead, a lead they would not relinquish as Witt, , and Salvy went 1-2-3 in the ninth inning. Just like that, the Royals are back in last place in the AL Central—well, tied for it at least. They are a dreadful 6-13 away from Kauffman Stadium. Hopefully, they can win some games on the road soon. If they don’t, the season will continue to slip away.