KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals followed up an improbable comeback with an even more unlikely win. Their rally against the White Sox on Sunday began in the fifth inning, when substitute catcher George Kottaras and light-hitting outfielder Jarrod Dyson cracked the first back-to-back homers for the offensively challenged Royals all season. The win happened after the White Sox had pulled back ahead, and included a couple timely hits against their ace reliever and a pair of errors that resulted in a three-run eighth inning. The result was a 7-6 victory that allowed the Royals to avoid a three-game sweep. "It was huge. I mean, we were on a four-game skid," said the Royals David Lough, who scored one of tying run. "For us to pull out that victory later in the game shows our resiliency." The White Sox had pulled ahead on a two-run double by Gordon Beckham in the seventh inning, and then brought in Jesse Crain for the eighth. He hadnt allowed a run in 29 straight innings, but gave up consecutive singles to Mike Moustakas and Lough to start the inning. Crain (2-2) committed the first error when he couldnt field a sacrifice bunt by Elliot Johnson, loading the bases with nobody out. Crain managed to strike out Kottaras and Dyson to breathe easier, but then walked Alex Gordon to get Kansas City within a run. The more costly error came moments later, when Alcides Escobar slapped a grounder toward shortstop that Alexei Ramirez allowed into left field to bring in the go-ahead runs. "We have a habit of coming from behind to win baseball games and today was more of the same," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Any win like that, especially this time of the year, is huge." Luke Hochevar (1-1) struck out two in a scoreless innings of relief for Kansas City, while Greg Holland pitched a perfect ninth for his 16th save in 18 chances. "Its big anytime you get a win and especially coming from behind," Hochever said. "Thats always a big pick-me-up for the club." Adam Dunn homered and drove in four runs to lead the White Sox, who were trying for their first road sweep since last September. "Its a tough way to lose a game," Crain said. "We had a chance to sweep the series, which we needed. We just have to look forward to the next game." Royals starter James Shields and White Sox counterpart Dylan Axelrod both endured rough afternoons, though they surely saw an exciting show once they left the game. Shields threw six straight balls to start the game and things never got a whole lot better, his leadoff walk to Alejandro De Aza and a single later in the first inning turning into two quick runs when Dunn rapped a single off the glove of Eric Hosmer at first base. The Royals ace then plunked Alex Rios in the back in the third inning, and Dunn made Shields pay again for his erratic ways with his no-doubt, two-run shot to centre field. It was the 20th homer for the hot-hitting Dunn, who trails only the Orioles Chris Davis and Blue Jays Edwin Encarnacion for the most in the American League. Shields wound up putting the leadoff batter on base in four of his five innings, and needed 97 pitches just to last that long. He departed without finishing six innings for the first time since last July 15 against Boston, a span of 30 consecutive starts. The former All-Star hasnt won in his last 10 outings. "I guess I have to start another 29-game streak now," he said. "Ive been pitching my butt off all season. I dont really care (about wins) as long as we win the game." The Royals started moving in that direction in the bottom of the third inning on Gordons RBI single, and then pulled even against Axelrod during a three-run fifth inning. The first two came on their back-to-back home runs -- the 26th career homer for Kottaras, who was giving Salvador Perez the day off behind the plate, and just the third career shot for Dyson, who was making his first start since returning from the disabled list on Saturday. "I put the barrel on the ball and it took off," Dyson said. Escobar kept the rally alive with a double, and Billy Butlers two-out single through the left side of the infield tied the game 4-all and knocked Axelrod from the game. Beckhams double off Kelvin Herrera in the seventh inning pushed the White Sox back in front, but a bullpen -- and a reliever -- that has been stingy all month finally let them down. "Hes semi-human," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "You know eventually theres going to be a time or two when hes going to give up a run or two. Its just tough that its today." NOTES: Kottaras threw out two runners on pitch outs. ... The Royals claimed RHP Maikel Cleto off waivers from St. Louis and assigned him to Triple-A Omaha. They designated OF Quintin Berry for assignment. ... The Royals are off before hosting the Braves for the first time in interleague play on Tuesday. The White Sox also are off before starting a series against the Mets. USWNT Store . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Stitched USWNT Jerseys . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. https://www.cheapuswnt.com/ . 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Starting September 1, 32 teams from across the globe will compete for a chunk of the record-breaking $2 million prize pool, as well as the right to be named Call of Duty World Champions.In order to win the coveted prizes, teams must first survive a best-of-five, round-robin gauntlet against their respective group opponents, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the double-elimination knockout portion of the bracket.After going over who will advance out of Groups A-D, lets break down who will make it out of Groups E-H.Group ETeams: FaZe Clan, Team eLevate, Most Wanted, Giants GamingAdvancing: FaZe Clan and Team eLevateFor all the success FaZe Clan had in last years Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, it certainly hasnt translated to the newest iteration of the game. The unit led by James Clayster Eubanks hasnt been able to crack the upper echelon of the North American scene, despite playing together all year. Fourth-place finishes at both MLG Anaheim and MLG Orlando have helped ease unrest among fans, but its fair to wonder whether another disappointing finish, this time at Call of Duty XP, could destabilize the team entirely. FaZe Clan should easily advance to the knockout portion of the event, and likely should be playing deep into the weekend, considering the level of talent on the roster. But unlike last year, FaZe Clan enters the big event in a muddled situation, and could be one poor performance away from roster upheaval.While Team eLevate failed to make the Stage 2 playoffs, their second-place finish during MLG Anaheim and top-three finish at MLG Orlando has seemingly elevated them into North Americas elite. Considering eLevate sports three players who competed in the Call of Duty World Championship finals last year, namely Ulysses Aqua Silva, Brice Faccento Faccento and Jared Nagafen Harrell, another run at the finals wouldnt come as a surprise to anyone. Considering the teams success in recent LAN tournaments, eLevate, who earned its spot through online qualifiers, could be a dark horse candidate at CoD XP.Group FTeams: Team Infused, Team Kaliber, Lethal Gaming, Tainted MindsAdvancing: Team Infused and Team KaliberAs one of the top teams in the European region, Infused should be handle its opposition in Group F fairly easily. Despite a ninth-12th place finish at MLG Orlando, Infused have seemingly always fared well during the group stage portion of events, posting a combined 6-0 record during the aforementioned MLG Orlando and MLG Anaheim group stage. Its been the lackluster play during elimination rounds that has doomed Infused, a problem that has reared its ugly head on many occasions this season. While a team like Tainted Minds or Team Kaliber could give Infused all they can handle, it would be shock to see one of the top European teams in the world fail to advance to the knockout portion of Call of Duty XP.Speaking of Team Kaliber, the group led by Dylan Theory McGee suffered through a rather pedestrian second half of the season, as the team was relegated from the CWL after Stage 1. Team Kaliber brought onboard Coleman ColeChan Chancey and Nicholas Happy Suda to bolster the roster at MLG Orlando, to mixed results. Placed in arguably one of the most difficult groups of the tournament, Kaliber didnt take a game off either Luminosity Gaming or OpTic Gaming, but performed admirably durinng both series.dddddddddddd If Kaliber can put together that same type of play during CoD XP, they might be able to stave off Tainted Minds, one of the top-tier teams from the Australia/New Zealand region.Group GTeams: Team EnVyUs, Team Orbit ANZ, Cloud9, Team VitalityAdvancing: Team EnVyUs and Cloud9As one of the best teams in all of Call of Duty, Team EnVyUs should need no introduction. Some may have questioned the teams first place finish in the Stage 2 playoffs because they didnt have to face off against some of North Americas top teams; however, they also proved themselves at MLG Orlando with another deep run. While EnVyUs lost to OpTic Gaming in the finals, they did reset the bracket before falling to them in the second and final series of the tournament. Led by 2015 World Champion Jordan Jkap Kaplan, EnVyUs will look for a shot at redemption and likely should be considered a contender to win the entire event.Cloud9, on the other hand, will need to fight in order to make it out of Group G. Led by former Team EnVyUs slayer Patrick ACHES Price, the new-look Cloud9 roster advanced into CoD XP on the heels of a solid run through the North American online qualifiers. While the team is jam-packed with capable CWL pros, like Adam Assault Garcia and Andres Lacefield Lacefield, the rag-tag group of players hasnt had much time to practice with one another, leaving them vulnerable to an upset. If the team can gel, they should be able to surpass a talented Team Orbit ANZ en route to the knockout stages.Group HTeams: OpTic Gaming, compLexity Gaming, PNDA Gaming, Team LDLCAdvancing: OpTic Gaming and compLexity GamingOpTic Gaming enter Call of Duty XP as the prohibitive favorites to win the entire event, as the teams reign throughout Call of Duty: Black Ops III has been nothing short of dominant. An opening round loss to Luminosity Gaming in the Stage 2 playoffs only seemed to reenergize the squad, as OpTic Gaming went on to win MLG Orlando, losing just one series the entire tournament. However, any talk about winning CoD XP must first be prefaced with the fact that OpTic Gaming have never won the World Championship before, finishing in third-place in 2013 and 2014, and a disappointing seventh place finish in 2015. While the Green Wall should be contenders heading into the weekend, history has shown us that anything can happen when it comes to OpTic Gaming at the World Championship.As another team to reconfigure its roster prior to the North American online qualifiers, compLexity Gaming enter CoD XP with an interesting roster comprised of Colt Havok McLendon, Devin Llama Tran, Mike Swarley and the mercurial Christopher Parasite Duarte. While the focus will be, deservedly so, on Parasite, who announced his retirement late in July only to come back to play one week later at MLG Orlando, the real player to watch out for may very well be Havok. The versatile Havok posted a 1.12 KD during Stage 2 with Cloud9, tying for fifth overall in the North American region, and provides option value for compLexity because he is capable of slaying or sniping. If the team can gel and fight through the inevitable stress and frustrations that come with participating in the biggest Call of Duty event of the year, compLexity Gaming should find themselves competing in the knockout stages of the event. ' ' '
