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Rally by Royals staggers White Sox

Jul 11, 2008 - 4:13 AM By Alan Eskew PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Royals needed a break, and Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko gave it to them.

Konerko's drop on what appeared to be a sure double play opened the door for a four-run, eighth-inning rally that gave the Royals a 4-1 victory over the White Sox on Thursday.

With pinch runner Joey Gathright on first, David DeJesus hit a grounder to shortstop. Gathright was forced out at second, but Konerko dropped the relay throw to first.

"You want to make that play for sure," Konerko said. "It took a little time to develop. A double-play ball that you have to stretch for it. ... You want to make the play if you can, obviously."

"He should have caught the ball," losing pitcher Mark Buerhrle said, "but we still lost the game so that's what matters."

Rookie Mike Aviles followed with a double down the left field line to score DeJesus with the first run of the inning and end the night for Buehrle (6-8), who struck out a season-high eight while walking none.

"Thankfully, they weren't able to complete that double play," Royals manager Trey Hillman said.

Jose Guillen's two-out RBI double to center field off Octavio Dotel put the Royals ahead.

"We were a little low-scoring tonight," Dotel said. "We only got the one in the fourth. After that, nothing. That happens sometimes. It's sad. Buehrle pitched a great game. It was a great game for eight innings, when we were ahead."

Mark Teahen capped off the inning with an inside-the-park homer off Boone Logan to make it 4-1.

"It's one of the most exciting things for the fans cause it takes a little while to develop and everybody wants to see it," Hillman said. "Everybody wants to see that third base coach keep him coming."

It was Teahen's second inside-the parker of the season, making him the first Royal to accomplish the feat since Brian McRae in 1992.

"They're starting to get kind of boring," Teahen said with a laugh. "I'll take them however I can get them. When I hit it, I was going hard trying to make sure I got a triple. Louie (Silverio, third base coach) was real aggressive and I trust him and it worked out perfect. I don't even know what it looked like behind me. Mine was just icing on the cake."

Lefthander Ron Mahay (5-0) worked a flawless eighth in relief of Zack Greinke to pick up the victory. Joakim Soria, the Royals' lone selection to the All-Star game, pitched a perfect ninth to log his 24th save in 26 opportunities.

"You have to give credit to this kid (Greinke)," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He's one of the best pitchers in the American League."

Greinke gave up only a home run by Jermaine Dye that sailed over the water fountains in left field in the fourth. Dye, a former Royal who was hitless in his first 11 at-bats of the three-game series, teed off on a 1-0 change up for his 20th blast of the season.

"He was right on it and I left it up just a little bit," Greinke said.

Greinke left after seven innings, allowing six hits and a walk with eight strikeouts.

"I kind of expected it (the rally)," Greinke said. "That's how we've been playing. There were some amazing defensive plays by (Alex) Gordon and Aviles. I felt like I pitched pretty good.

"Buehrle pitched really good. He was just hitting the corners all day. Buehrle is not easy to hit. I knew going in it was going to be tough. Mahay did a good job of keeping them there so they didn't get to pad their lead. Then Soria does what he does."

Kansas City beat Buehrle for the first time since September 15, 2005. The Royals also won for the first time against the American League Central Division-leading White Sox in six meetings this year.

"It happened so fast," Buehrle said. "Five seconds we're up and five seconds later we're down."