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Konerko, Buehrle lead White Sox past Royals

Apr 24, 2007 - 5:51 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Mark Buehrle was not quite as good as he was in his last outing but Paul Konerko made sure he didn't have to be.

Coming off a no-hitter in his last start, Buehrle pitched seven effective innings and Konerko hit two home runs to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 7-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Buehrle (2-0) threw the first no-hitter for the White Sox in 16 years in last Wednesday's 6-0 win over Texas. He wasn't able to join Johnny Vander Meer in throwing consecutive no hitters but Buehrle did continue his dominance of the Royals.

"I was a little disappointed when he gave up that first hit," White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen joked.

"He made just one bad pitch," Royals designated hitter Mike Sweeney said. "He threw the ball tonight like he did in the no-hitter. There was nothing over the middle of the plate. Everything was on the corner, on the black."

Buehrle allowed three runs and five hits with four strikeouts and a walk. He improved to 16-6 in his career against Kansas City, including an 8-4 mark at Kauffman Stadium.

"I have confidence in all my pitches," Buehrle said. "Toward the end tonight I missed a couple of spots and they did take advantage."

"He throws a lot of pitches that look like strikes, but then they go to the corner or outside," Royals center fielder David DeJesus said. "That's the type of pitcher he is. The more you see him the better you can read his pitches."

The White Sox managed just three hits in the first five innings against Royals starter Gil Meche before Konerko connected for a two-run homer in the sixth to forge a 2-2 tie.

"I made some mistakes at the wrong time," Meche said. "I left that ball up to Konerko. He's a strong guy. He's supposed to hit it out of the park and he did."

"It feels good to do good," Konerko said. "It never concerns me too much when you're not hitting home runs because those things come in bunches, they come when you least expect them."

Konerko snapped a 3-3 tie with his second two-run shot of the game, this one in the eighth inning off Kansas City reliever David Riske.

"I threw him four splitters," Riske said. "Three were great and one was horrible. I've got to keep the ball down. That one just floated, it stayed up. Just one pitch and it was horrible."

"The second one felt better," Konerko said. "You can't try to hit home runs, but you can go up there to have good at-bats."

Buehrle stretched his streak of scoreless innings to 19 before John Buck gave the Royals a 2-0 lead with his fourth home run of the season, but Meche and the bullpen couldn't hold the lead.

"I didn't think it would get to that point where I had so many (scoreless) innings," Buerhle said.

"It's a game of momentum," Buck said. "Once you get it in your favor you can get things rolling, but Konerko put a stop to that pretty quick."

Meche was as effective as Buehrle, allowing three runs and eight hits with three strikeouts in seven innings. But five Royals relievers combined to allow four runs and four hits over the final two frames.

"We've got to figure something out with our bullpen," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "We think we've got it here with the players we've got on the roster now, but we've got to figure something out."

Jimmy Gobble (0-1) threw just one pitch but allowed a hit and a run without recording an out in the seventh to take the loss.

"We're making mistakes in the bullpen we can't afford to make," Buck said. "I still have faith in them. You can't take away from those arms out there and the talent they have."

Bobby Jenks allowed two hits in the ninth but was able to pick up his seventh save in eight chances this season.