Royals 2 - 1 White Sox
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White Sox play rubber match with Royals

Sep 9, 2012 - 2:56 PM

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(Sports Network) - The Chicago White Sox enter Sunday with a two-game lead in the AL Central.

With a big four-game series at home against the second-place Detroit Tigers on the horizon, the White Sox first have to overcome Jeremy Guthrie and the Kansas City Royals this afternoon.

Guthrie, who is 4-0 over his last six starts, is coming off a victory against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. His last defeat came Aug. 3 versus Texas. Guthrie is 4-5 with a 3.67 ERA in 14 games (12 starts) against the White Sox.

Hector Santiago will make his second career start and 40th appearance for the White Sox. He pitched five-plus innings in a victory against Minnesota on Monday.

KC had beaten the White Sox six straight times, until yesterday's 5-4 final to set up the rubber match of this three-game set.

Tyler Flowers hit a two-run home run. Paul Konerko and Dayan Viciedo each hit a solo home run for the White Sox, who had dropped six of eight coming in.

Chris Sale (16-6) snapped a two-game slide as he gave up just one run on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts over six innings for Chicago.

"He was getting behind with a lot of guys early on and had to throw pitches over the plate," said Chicago manager Robin Ventura about Sale. "But as the game wore on he worked the plate better and was getting ahead of the batters."

Johnny Giavotella, Alcides Escobar, Billy Butler and Brayan Pena each drove in a run for the Royals, who have lost three of four. Bruce Chen (10-12) was tagged for all five runs on six hits over six innings in the loss.

"I felt pretty good out there today," said Chen. "My fastball was there, my offspeed stuff was there, but I just made a few mistakes and I paid for them."

Salvador Perez has a 13-game hitting streak for the Royals.






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