KANSAS CITY -- White Sox manager Pedro Grifol was not happy after his team suffered a 4-3 walk-off loss on a bunt against the Royals on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

His directness, or even terseness, during a four-minute postgame interview session was understandable. The White Sox, who entered the season with playoff hopes firmly in their mind, lost for a third time in four games to the rebuilding Royals.

Chicago's record sits at 13-26 overall, leaving the club 8 1/2 games behind the American League Central-leading Twins. The White Sox are also just one game better than the Royals (12-27), leaving them closer to last place than the third-place Guardians (17-20).

Injuries to key players such as Tim Anderson, Yoán Moncada, Jake Burger, Joe Kelly and Eloy Jiménez (on two occasions) certainly have hampered Chicago's efforts. The team has also greatly missed the clubhouse presence of closer Liam Hendriks as he went through what has become an inspirational battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma leading to his current remission and a potential Major League return next week.

But the White Sox have not been a good baseball team. There’s no injury issues or pointing to the 123 remaining games to cover such a fact.

“Concerned? There’s a lot of baseball left. Disappointed at times with lack of urgency? Absolutely, I am. Absolutely,” Grifol said. “That starts with me. So we've got to be better. We've got to be better as a staff. We've got to be better as a ballclub. We have to take advantage of situations like this.

“We tie a game up in the eighth inning, we've got to take advantage of this type of opportunity. We played pretty good baseball in Cincinnati. We had some momentum coming in and we got outplayed.”

In regard to that lack of urgency, Grifol didn’t point to any specific discipline of the White Sox game. He focused more on day-to-day focus, which is a mantra he has espoused since Spring Training.

“These games are important. Sometimes, teams look ahead and they focus on the long haul, and I’m not that type of leader focusing on the long haul. I’m focusing on right now,” Grifol said. “This is it. Right now. This is the game.

“I know we've got runs in us, but I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on winning today’s baseball game, so there’s urgency every single day. Every day, there’s urgency to win baseball games.”

Royals starter Brady Singer entered Thursday with an 8.82 ERA, although he posted a 2-1 record and a 3.00 ERA over five games (four starts) against the White Sox in 2022. He held Chicago to one run on five hits and two walks over six innings on Thursday.

The White Sox rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the eighth with two outs and nobody on base. Andrew Vaughn singled off Aroldis Chapman and Carlos Perez notched a first-pitch pinch-hit single to set up Luis Robert Jr.'s game-tying two-run double. But they couldn’t bring home Robert, then Kansas City reliever Scott Barlow retired the side on seven pitches in the ninth.

“Definitely a tough loss,” Robert Jr. said via translator Billy Russo. “When you are behind and you are able to come back as we did, you’re hoping to get something going. This is not what you are hoping for, but unfortunately this happens. It’s baseball.”

Freddy Fermin’s safety squeeze off Reynaldo López scored Nick Pratto as the game-winning run, marking the second time this season the White Sox have been walked off via a bunt. The inning started with López walking Pratto.

Kansas City improved to 23-19 against the White Sox since the start of the 2021 season, as the White Sox were walked off for the fourth time this year following five walk-off losses in ‘22. Regardless of what lies ahead for Chicago, urgent change must come now.

“At times, we show it. At times, we don’t," Grifol said. "I’m not going to sit here and continue to say it’s a long season. That’s not what I’m about. I don’t look too far ahead. I know it’s a freaking long season. It’s 162 games. But I’m not focused on 162 games. I’m focused on today -- winning a baseball game today and getting ready for tomorrow. We have to play with that type of urgency every single day.”

“Everyone in here wants to win. Everyone wants to win this series.” said White Sox starter Mike Clevinger, who allowed three runs in six innings. “We've felt like we're so close, and then, a game like this happens. It's disheartening. We're still only [8 1/2] games back. There's a lot of season.”