KANSAS CITY http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-moore-jersey , Mo. (AP) — rookie season.Keller pitched seven strong innings to win for the fourth time in six starts, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 6-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.“He kind of struggled with his mechanics a little bit early, but he’s a kid who doesn’t give in,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He comes right at you with good stuff. … He got pitches to get outs when he needed to.”Keller (8-6) gave up one run and four hits and two walks while striking out six. He is 4-1 with a 1.62 ERA in his last six starts, lowering his ERA to 3.04 — leading all AL rookies.Yost isn’t quite ready to talk about Keller in the Rookie Of The Year discussion, but it’s not too far from his mind.“I haven’t paid attention to who his competition will be,” he said. “I’m very proud and pleased with the year that he’s put together. … He’s only going to get better.”Keller says it’s an honor to be in the discussion of top rookies, but it’s not his focus.“I don’t really look at that,” Keller said. “I just try to go out and help the team win. It’s just cool to be in the talks, but that doesn’t matter.”Whit Merrifield had two hits, two RBIs, and scored two runs for the Royals. He also stole two bases to increase his American League lead to 33 steals, including a league-best 12 of third base.The aggressiveness on the basepaths, especially since the All-Star break, has been key in the Royals starting to play better at home. They have 47 steals in 48 games since the break.“We have to force the issue at times,” Merrifield said, “be aggressive and good things happen.”Wily Peralta picked up his 10th save in 10 chances, despite walking two in 1/3 of an inning.The Royals have won a season-high seven straight at home — and 10 of 11. After starting 11-35 at home before the All-Star break, the Royals are 16-10 since the break. They need to win three of their final nine games to avoid tying the franchise’s worst home record (1998).Dylan Covey (5-13) allowed six runs — five earned — and six hits in 4 1/3 innings for the White Sox. He walked three and struck out four. He is now 0-6 with a 9.00 ERA in his last six starts. Over his last 11 outings Prince Fielder Jersey , he’s 1-9 with an 8.59 ERA.Covey has struggled against the Royals, falling to 0-7 with a 6.37 ERA in nine career starts.The White Sox scored a run in the third when Avasail Garcia beat out an infield single, scoring Yolmer Sanchez from third. Garcia rolled it sharply to short, but Adalberto Mondesi appeared to take too long to release the throw to first.Mondesi made up for his gaffe with an RBI single as part of a three-run third for Kansas City. Merrifield blooped a single to short right field, scoring Brian Goodwin. Mondesi followed with a bunt single that scored Rosell Herrera. A bad throw by catcher Welington Castillo sent Merrifield to third. He scored on Alex Gordon’s sacrifice fly to the wall in right.The Royals added another run in the fourth. Ryan O’Hearn led off with a triple down the right-field line and scored on Jorge Bonifacio’s ground-rule double to make it 4-1.Hunter Dozier had a two-run single in the sixth to give the Royals a five-run lead.The White Sox pulled within three in the ninth against Royals relievers, with Tim Anderson driving in Ryan LaMarre with a single and Yoan Moncada scoring Jose Rondon on a bases-loaded walk.“We had some opportunities early, didn’t cash them in,” Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. “And then, we gave them a little scare here in the ninth.”JONES RETURNSPrior to Tuesday’s game, the White Sox returned RHP Nate Jones from his rehab assignment with Class A Winston-Salem, and reinstated him from the 60-day disabled list. He was placed on the disabled list June 13 with a pronator muscle strain in his right arm. He’s 2-2 and a 2.55 ERA in 27 relief appearances. Jones pitched a scoreless seventh inning against the Royals.TRAINER’S ROOMWhite Sox: OF Leury Garcia remains on the disabled list with a grade-2 left hamstring. “Doing better,” Renteria said. “(He’s getting) a little more activity. He’s still feeling some soreness, some tightness when he’s doing certain things.”Royals: OF Brett Phillips, who has been out since suffering a right shoulder contusion last Wednesday in Cleveland, continues to improve, according to Yost. Phillips took 30 more swings off the tee Tuesday. “I still don’t have a definite date (for his return),” Yost said before the game. “But he’s getting closer.”UP NEXTWhite Sox LHP Carlos Rodon (6-5, 3.11 ERA) will face Royals LHP Eric Skoglund (1-5, 6.45). Rodon has lost his two starts in September after the Sox won all five of his August starts (he was 3-0 in those starts). Skoglund missed more than three months of the season (86 games) with a strained left UCL. He has pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen since his return. He made five rehab starts Adrian Beltre Jersey , going 0-1 with a 3.54 ERA with three different minor league affiliates. When Aaron Judge suffered a chip fracture in his right wrist July 26, the initial expectation was that he would only be away from the New York Yankees for a couple of weeks.Well, it's been over a month and the slugging right fielder still isn't back. As much as anything, this explains why Andrew McCutchen is on his way to New York.Not long after the Yankees blew a ninth-inning lead en route to a crushing 8-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers Thursday night, reports surfaced that the San Francisco Giants had agreed to trade McCutchen to the Yankees. According to Joel Sherman of theNew York Post, two prospects are going to San Francisco:Joel Sherman Joelsherman1I hear if the trade is completed #yankees will be sending two prospects to the #sfgiants for McCutchen and that Abital Avelino is one of them.McCutchen, the 2013 National League MVP, isgoing from a sub-.500 Giants team to an 84-50 Yankees club that's positioned for a wild-card berth. Because he was acquired ahead of the August 31 waiver trade deadline, he's eligible to stay with New York for the duration of its October ride.For the Yankees, it's a solid baseball trade.Abiatal Avelino only checks in as their No. 23 prospect atMLB.com.And perRandy Millerof NJ.com, the $2.45 million left on McCutchen's contract shouldn't put the Yankees over the luxury-tax threshold.Now that the basics are out of the way, it's on to the heart of the matter: This deal shouldspare the Yankees from a nightmare of their own making.Adam Hunger/Getty ImagesOriginally, it wasbelieved that Judge would need only three weeks of rest before he was able to swing a bat again. More than three weeks later, however, the 2017 American League Rookie of the Year still isn't close to swinging a bat again.It doesn't need to be speculated that the Yankees erred in thinking Judge could make such a swift recovery. General manager Brian Cashman admitted as much toShermanon August 20:"[Yankees team doctor Chris] Ahmad was optimistic. He recognizes these things take four to six weeks, but for some reason his experience with Judge, [Ahmad] went the most optimistic three weeks. That was a mistake, one he has self-admitted to. In fairness to Aaron, four to six weeks is typical. Usually Nolan Ryan Jersey , we don't over-promise. In this case, we missed on the timeline. It is unfair to the player. The optimism and the timeline were inaccurate."If thereissomething to speculate about, it's whether the Yankees ran with an aggressive timeline for Judge's recovery for the sake of convenience.At the time he was hurt, they had already lost fellow slugger Gary Sanchez to astrained groinand young outfielder Clint Frazier to aconcussion. According to Jon Heyman of Fancred, they adjusted their deadline priorities accordingly:Jon Heyman JonHeymanYankees looking for an extra hitter/OF with judge (and Sanchez and Frazier) out. Probably prefer a righty hitter. But the grandy man cgrand3 could be a potential fit.Under these circumstances, a conservative recovery timeline for Judge might have signaled a greater sense of desperation to potential trade partners, resulting in boosted price tags.Had the Yankees' maneuvering worked, it would have been worth a tip of the ol' cap. Instead, nothing happened in the final days of July or through the first 30 days of August. And the Yankees paid for it.Sure, they have a winning record (19-14) in the time Judge has been out. But theiroffense has gone from a .789 OPSwith himto a .762 OPSwithout him, and the team's deficit to the Boston Red Sox in the AL East race has grown from 4.5 games to 8.5 games.By not rushing to bring in help from outside the organization, the Yankees took asense of urgency that should have been on their shoulders and transferred it onto Judge's.Thus, it's no wonder that he recently spoke about returning before he was 100 percent healthy."That's what I've heard, that I can play with it," the 26-year-oldtold reportersTuesday. "I don't need surgery, I don't need anything like that. You can play with it before it fully heals. It's just getting that pain down to zero."Maybe an early return would have worked. This is Aaron Judge, after all.He's a .284/.412/.595 hitter with 78 home runs over the last two seasons. Even a sub-100 percent version of him might have still proved to be elite.However, it's just as likely that an early return would have resulted in calamity.There would have been the risk of his wrist catching another wayward fastballlike the onethat hit him in July. Other forces (an awkward check swing, a hard headfirst slide Rougned Odor Jersey , a diving catch attempt) could also have put his wrist in jeopardy.Even if Judge avoided all of these, he might not have been up to being a savior anyway. He could have been held back by out-of-whack timing. Or, the 6'7", 282-pounder'swounded wrist could have rendered him unable to conjure his trademark power.Now that McCutchen is coming to the rescue, there's no need for Judge to rush.McCutchen isn't Judge's equal at this stage of his career, but he can still hit. He has a .772 OPS and 15 homers on the season, and a solid .794 OPS and six homers since the All-Star break.If nothing else, McCutchen is a better option in right field than what the Yankees had been going with in place of Judge.While Giancarlo Stanton and Neil Walker have done their part to carry the load, Shane Robinson has done plenty to chip away at it. The Yankeesrank 28thin right field offense since July 28.Having McCutchen in right field should take care of that problem in the short term. Because of that, Judge can take more time to let his wrist heal. With enough luck, it will be good to go in time for the postseason. At that point, McCutchen would go from a solid everyday player to an enviable platoon option.Of course, it's hard not to wonder where the Yankees would be right now if they'd traded for McCutchen sooner. They'd almost certainly be closer to the Red Sox in the AL East race. If so, their September would be less about saving face and more about seizing an opportunity.Still, a trade made late is better than a trade not made at all. Rather than too little, too late, McCutchen to the Yankees is just enough, just in time.Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and Baseball Savant.