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Bannister sharp as Royals edge White Sox

Aug 22, 2007 - 11:13 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Brian Bannister tossed 6 2/3 effective innings and Billy Butler homered and drove in three runs as the Kansas City Royals held on for a 7-6 victory over the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday afternoon.

David DeJesus had three hits and an RBI for the Royals, who snapped a three-game losing streak in salvaging the finale of a three-game series against the White Sox.

Kansas City was coming off a successful series against the Oakland Athletics in which it won two of three.

"You never want to come to a place and get swept after you've had a good series like we had in Oakland," Butler said. "We were set up to sweep there, and they were set up to sweep us here. We played tough this series, but we got some bad breaks."

Bannister (10-7), who was just as sharp in an 8-1 win over Chicago on June 29, allowed two runs and five hits while striking out three and walking two in this one.

"(Bannister) pitched great," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "After the first inning, he was locked in with two strikes. Great tempo. Typical Banny game. Not a lot of baserunners. But when he did get baserunners, he made some pitches."

"The biggest thing in this game is being able to make adjustments," Bannister said. "I think the team that can make the adjustments quickest often wins a game, whether it's a hitter's approach to the pitcher or a pitcher's approach to the hitter."

Bannister pinpointed some specific issues with his delivery.

"I came in after the first, watched myself on tape, made some mechanical adjustments," he said. "My front shoulder was flying open a little bit, and that was causing me to land on my heal a little bit.

"So, I went through it a couple times, made the necessary adjustments and went back out there and had a good second inning, and it was good from there."

With a runner on first and two outs in the eighth, the righthander was relieved by lefthander Jimmy Gobble, who matched up with the lefthanded-hitting Jerry Owens. Gobble walked Owens but struck out Josh Fields to end the threat.

Gobble then got the first two outs of the eighth before Joakim Soria recorded the final four outs with a four-run lead.

But it was not easy as the Royals closer allowed three runs in the final frame before ending the threat by retiring White Sox slugger Paul Konerko, who represented the winning run, with a strikeout.

"Hopefully, we don't have to deal with that every single game," Bell said. "For a young guy, that's not all bad. Understand that this is a tough game and you're going to have some innings that don't work out the way you want them to. For young players, that's an important experience for them."

Despite his struggles, Bell praised his closer's perseverance.

"Soria's makeup is incredible," the manager said. "We saw that from the first day of spring training. He understands how to play. He understands the ups and downs. For someone that young and inexperienced, it's pretty incredible that he has that resiliency."

The Royals got on the board in the first inning against Chicago starter Jose Contreras (6-16). Mark Grudzielanek was hit by a pitch with one out and, after DeJesus' single moved Grudzielanek to third, Butler opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly.

DeJesus stole second base and was plated by Ross Gload's single, making it 2-0.

The White Sox tied the game in the bottom of the frame with a two-out rally. Jim Thome doubled and Konerko walked, setting up Darin Erstad's RBI single.

Jermaine Dye then ripped a single to plate Konerko and even the game at 2-2.

Kansas City staged a two-out rally of its own in the second as Jason LaRue walked and Joey Gathright singled. Grudzielanek and DeJesus then stroked consecutive run-scoring singles to make it 4-2.

The Royals extended their lead with two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth. Butler blasted a two-run shot in the seventh and, one inning later, Emil Brown scored on catcher Toby Hall's throwing error.

Contreras yielded four runs and six hits in six innings while striking out one and walking three.

"The biggest problem for (Contreras) was location," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He walked guys and they scored. After the second inning, he settled down a little bit. When I went to the mound, I said, 'I don't care how many innings you're going to throw, I want you to be aggressive and give me the best stuff you have.'"

Fields belted a three-run homer for Chicago, which had won two in a row after snapping an eight-game losing streak on Monday.

"It was an off-speed pitch that he left up a little bit, and it was one I finally stayed back on and didn't miss," Fields said of his blast. "I'd been missing pitches all day long, and that at-bat, I said regardless of the outcome, I was going to stay back and put a good swing on it. Maybe I need to do that more often."