White Sox hammer Brad Keller and Kansas City Royals on emotional trade deadline day

Kansas City Royals starter and rotation stalwart Brad Keller gave up a season-high for hits and runs on a night when the Chicago White Sox seemed to have a bead on everything he was throwing at them.

Keller pushed his way through 5 2/3 innings Tuesday night, but he gave up eight runs and 13 hits in a 9-2 loss to the White Sox in the second game of their three-game set in front of an announced 24,361 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The loss capped an emotional day for the Royals, who saw homegrown Royals Whit Merrifield and Cam Gallagher traded away while the team took the field to start their pregame stretching routine.

“Those are two of my best friends,” Keller said. “It’s always tough. We understand the game of baseball and the business side of things. We understand trade deadlines and all that stuff. You can’t really put too much thought into it. We’ve still got to go out there and play a game.

“Like I said, those are two of my best friends. It’s tough to see them leave, but I’m happy for them. Happy for their opportunity.”

Tuesday’s loss also assured the Royals (41-63) of a losing record on their seven-game road trip but they can still win the series with a victory in Wednesday afternoon’s rubber match.

The free-swinging White Sox (52-51) didn’t swing and miss at all against Keller’s four-seam fastball on 22 swings. Keller got just four swings and misses out of 20 swings on his slider, usually a wipe-out pitch for him.

“I felt like we had a really good game plan,” Keller said. “I felt like I went after a lot of guys. I felt like I was ahead a lot, and they just kept getting hits. I felt I executed pretty well. Obviously, you’re going to have some pitches throughout a game that you don’t quite execute down and away or inside.

“But for the most part, I felt like I kept the ball on the ground and it just kept finding holes. It’s frustrating. It’s a tough one to swallow”

Keller (5-12) dug an early hole when gave up three runs in the first inning. He faced eight batters, yielded four hits, a walk, and he threw 34 pitches to get to the end of that frame.

“A lot of ground balls getting through, first of all,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Keller’s outing. “He was pretty good in the zone. Balls finding their way through led to a big inning in the beginning, and that’s pretty hard to recover from with going down early and pitch count getting to 34, 35. They just kind of kept putting the ball in play and hitting it where we weren’t.”

Royals catcher Salvador Perez went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI.

Vinnie Pasquantino and Hunter Dozier (RBI) each also had doubles in the loss for the Royals, while Nicky Lopez had a hit, a walk and a run scored.

The Royals scored two runs in the third inning on a Perez single and a Dozier double, but they left the bases loaded against White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito.

That pulled the Royals within a run, 3-2. But the White Sox tacked on runs against Keller. They scored two in the fourth and three in the sixth. Jose Abreu’s two-run homer in the sixth concluded Keller’s outing.

Goodbye to Merrifield and Gallagher

The Royals shuffled their lineup less than two hours before the game started with the trades of Merrifield and Gallagher (Merrifield was in the original starting lineup).

Players were filing into the clubhouse and then back out onto the field during batting practice after Merrifield and Gallagher were told of the trades.

“We wish they were with us, still, and we wish they won a lot more while they were here,” Keller said. “Especially for Whit. He’s done so much for this organization, so much for this team. It would’ve been really nice for him to be able to see it through, see us starting winning and into the playoffs. But I’m really happy for him to have the opportunity to go to a winning ballclub, him and Cam both.”

The Toronto Blue Jays acquired Merrifield, while the San Diego Padres acquired Gallagher.

“It’s always pretty emotional when the trade deadline comes around because you never know what’s going to happen,” Lopez said. “Your team could look a lot different. Obviously, those have been our teammates for a while now. Both guys have been a part of the organization for a long time. They’re our good friends.”

Lopez said while many in the general public may think they only play baseball together, the players spend so much time together and form strong bonds and relationships.

“Whit welcomed me,” Lopez said of when he broke into the majors. “Cam is one of my best friends. So it’s obviously bittersweet. They’re going to go and have a good opportunity with another team. Hopefully, both of them go and compete in the playoffs. You wish them luck, then when we play them, if we play them, obviously it’s just business.”

Dozier regularly sees Gallagher in the offseason where both reside in Texas, and he’s one of Merrifield’s closest friends on the team. He admitted he was caught off guard by the trade news.

“I feel like it’s every year, but it never seems true,” Dozier said of the constant Merrifield trade rumors. “I honestly didn’t think he was going to go this year. I think we were all kind of shocked when he went, definitely Cam too.”

Dozier said he ran back into the clubhouse once again before the game started just to hug each of them one more time.

“It was tough,” Dozier said. “I was fighting back tears. They were too. So it’s just tough to see them go.”

The Royals have a large contingent of their major-league roster that were drafted or signed by the organization and brought up through the minor-league system together. Dozier, Gallagher and Merrifield had each only played in one organization for their entire professional careers, and they’d all been part of the farm system during the magical postseason runs of 2014 and 2015.

“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve played with,” Dozier said of Merrifield. “He was such a good leader. When all those veterans left when we were younger, he took over. Definitely when (Alex Gordon) left and he kind of became the leader. He’s someone I’ve looked up to, and he did a lot for the organization.”