KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Another day, another White Sox victory.
And another save for Addison Reed.
The Sox’ second-year closer became the first pitcher since Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Eric Gagne in 2003 to save six consecutive games by pitching a scoreless 12th inning in the Sox’ 4-3 victory that completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.
“If I’m in it’s a good day,” said Reed. “I want to say I’ll be ready again tomorrow.”
That’s debatable. It’s almost certain that manager Robin Ventura won’t use Reed when the Sox open a weekend series against the Texas Rangers on Friday at U.S. Cellular Field. The man can use a rest.
“We would have liked to stay away from him tonight,” Ventura said. “But the way it’s going, you go extra innings and he said he was available. Not ideal, but he got it done.”
Reed walked Billy Butler to lead off the 12th. After pinch runner Jarrod Dyson stole second with no outs, Reed struck out David Lough, got Mike Moustakas on a liner to shortstop and Emilio Bonofacio on a fly out to end the game. Reed has 34 saves.
Jose Quintana pitched seven strong innings, facing the minimum number of batters in six. He allowed three runs in the fifth.
The Sox played without Paul Konerko, who had an unusual reaction to an anti-inflammatory before the game that caused him to feel light-headed.
Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo drove in a run each with singles in the sixth and Josh Phegley drove in the tying run with a double that bounced off first base in the seventh.
Conor Gillaspie homered in the 12th. Jake Petricka (1-0) got the win in his major league debut. Petricka faced one batter, getting Salvador to hit into an inning-ending double play in the 11th.
“It’s an exciting feeling, that’s for sure,” Petricka said. “It really took away any idea of over-thinking in the situation. With the winning run at second you just had to throw strikes and do your stuff.”
Rookie Andre Rienzo got his first win on Wednesday. The last time Sox pitchers earned first major league wins in consecutive games was in 1963, when Fritz Ackley and Frank Kreutzer beat the Washington Senators in September, 1963.
