Royals Beat White Sox, 4-1
CHICAGO (AP) -- Omar Infante, Paulo Orlando and Lorenzo Cain all doubled in a three-run sixth inning off Jose Quintana to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 4-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.
Orlando added an RBI single an inning later and Dillon Gee (1-1) allowed a run over five innings for his first victory since 2014. The Royals won for the fifth time in seven games and moved within 3 1/2 games of the AL Central-leading White Sox.
Quintana (5-3) who entered with an AL-best 1.54 ERA, gave up one hit while facing the minimum 15 batters through five. He retired 11 straight until Infante had the first of four straight one-out hits.
Four relievers combined to blank the White Sox over the final four innings, with Wade Davis getting his 10th save in 11 tries.
Kendrys Morales' two-out RBI single made it 3-1, with all the run-scoring hits off curveballs.
Quintana was charged with a season-worst four runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Austin Jackson's second-inning sacrifice fly provided the lone run for the White Sox, who have lost seven of nine.
It looked like Chicago's dominance with its top pitchers Chris Sale and Quintana would continue early.
Salvador Perez was quickly erased on a double play following his second-inning single, and the Royals didn't have another baserunner until the sixth.
Consecutive one-out doubles by Infante and Orlando tied it at 1. After Alcides Escobar's infield hit, Lorenzo Cain smacked an RBI double into the left field corner.
That was enough for the Royals, who have won 22 of 29 at U.S. Cellular Field.
Despite that and their World Series title last fall, White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier declared before the game that, "We're leading the division so they have to come through us."
The Royals responded by shutting down Chicago's slumping offense.
Manager Robin Ventura shook up the lineup, moving Jose Abreu to the second spot for the first time since last season. Frazier batted third and Melky Cabrera fourth.
Cabrera led off with a single to left and scored on Jackson's bases-loaded fly. But Chicago was frustrated while striking out looking seven times.
Adam Eaton was ejected by plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt after taking a called third strike to end the game.
Gee, who took the injured Chris Young's spot in the rotation, allowed four hits and struck out five.
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