Konerko, Flowers power Sox over Royals
Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer and Tyler Flowers added his first home run in the majors to lead the White Sox to a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.
Konerko went deep in the third and Flowers added a solo shot in the fifth to help the White Sox snap a seven-game home losing streak. Flowers also had a single and a walk.
Juan Pierre had three singles and scored two runs for Chicago.
Jesse Crain (7-3) got the win in relief after pitching out of starter Jake Peavy’s jam in the seventh and his own in the eighth. Chris Sale got the last three outs, earning his fourth save.
Peavy allowed four runs and nine hits over 6 2-3 innings.
Luke Hochevar (8-9) took the loss, allowing eight hits and five runs in six innings. He had won four straight decisions and hadn’t lost in eight starts dating to June 21.
Billy Butler stroked a two-run single for the Royals, and Johnny Giavotella added two hits and an RBI.
The White Sox have won seven of last their last nine, but they had lost seven straight at U.S. Cellular Field by a combined score of 54-17.
The start of the game was delayed by 1 hour, 25 minutes due to thunderstorms that moved through the Chicago area late Saturday afternoon. There was another delay of 42 minutes prior to the start of the eighth.
The White Sox took the lead with a two-run seventh. Carlos Quentin drove in the tying run with an RBI double into the left-field corner. Alejandro De Aza forced in the go-ahead run with a bases loaded walk.
Both runs came with Royals reliever Aaron Crow on the mound but both were charged to Hochevar, who issued a single and a walk to start the inning before being pulled.
Hochevar pitched out of jams effectively for most of the game, allowing the leadoff man to reach in six of seven innings.
The Royals overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a four-run rally in the fifth. Butler’s two-out, two-run single put the Royals up 4-2.
Butler got his chance when White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen had Melky Cabrera intentionally walked in front of him to load the bases.
The White Sox cut the lead to 4-3 in the fifth on Flowers’ first homer. For Flowers, who was playing in his 25th game over the last three seasons, it was also his first career RBI.
With two outs and one on in the third, Konerko hit a 1-2 fastball into the left field seats, putting the White Sox up 2-0. It was Konerko’s 27th homer and extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
After the Royals fell behind 5-4, they got the first two runners on in the eighth against Crain, but Salvador Perez bounced into an inning-ending double play.