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White Sox beat Royals on balk

Jul 5, 2011 - 3:49 AM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Aaron Crow's balk in the bottom of the ninth allowed A.J. Pierzynski to score and give the White Sox a 5-4 victory over the Royals in the first test of a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field.

Sergio Santos (3-3) earned the win despite allowing a game-tying home run in the top of the ninth.

Adam Dunn had two hits, including a two-run home run, in Chicago's fifth win in six games.

"You just need one big hit to put the crowd back in your pocket. Hopefully he'll continue to do this and forget about what happened in the past," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said about Dunn.

Crow (2-2) took the loss, allowing three runs in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Jeff Francoeur and Eric Hosmer both went deep for the Royals, losers in six of their last seven.

Crow, who blew a lead in the eighth inning, returned for the ninth and allowed a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Pierzynski, who moved to second on Gordon Beckham's sacrifice bunt and took third during a pinch-hit at-bat by Mark Teahen when Crow bounced a curveball past catcher Brayan Pena.

Teahan struck out and Crow gave Juan Pierre a free pass, bringing Dunn to the plate with runners on second and third and two outs. Crow threw a first-pitch ball to Dunn and then set up to throw his next pitch. As he stood on the mound, he leaned his front shoulder towards home plate and then stepped back off the mound, resulting in a balk call from home plate umpire Ed Rapuano and ending the game.

"You fight back to get your team in there, and that's an unfortunate way to end the ballgame. That's just how things have been going for us lately," said Hosmer.

Kansas City jumped out to an early lead on Francoeur's two-out, two-run home run in the first inning.

The Royals added to their lead in the third. Mitch Maier doubled to right and then moved to third on a Melky Cabrera groundout before Billy Butler singled to right, scoring Maier and making it a 3-0 contest.

Chicago answered in the fourth by loading the bases on three consecutive singles by Dunn, Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin to start the inning. But they would only manage to push one run across the plate on Alexei Ramirez's 6-4-3 double play, as Alex Rios followed by striking out on three pitches to end the inning and strand Konerko at third.

The White Sox put another run on the board when Ramon Castro led off the fifth with a solo shot into the left-field bleachers, making it a 3-2 game.

Chicago then took the lead in the eighth off of Crow. Brent Morel started the frame with a single before Dunn hammered a shot to right that landed out of the reach of Francoeur as he scaled the wall and reached for the ball.

But Hosmer knotted the game up in the ninth off of Santos. Hosmer led off the inning with a homer that was originally called a triple as it seemed to bounce off the top of the wall and back onto the field.

During the replay, it showed that the ball hit the back end of the top of the wall, just out of the reach of a jumping Rios, and deflected off the railing in front of the stands.

Game Notes

Dunn's home run in the eighth was the 362nd of his career, giving him sole possession of 72nd all-time...Dunn was tied with Joe DiMaggio...Kansas City starter Jeff Francis allowed two runs on seven hits through six innings. Chicago starter Mark Buehrle went seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. Buehrle has given up three runs or fewer in each of his last 12 starts.