Greinke shuts down Sox

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Zack Greinke may have ended the debate over whether he should be a starter or a reliever.

Greinke struck out a career-high 10 and pitched 2-hit ball for 8 innings, leading the Kansas City Royals over the White Sox 3-0 Thursday.

Greinke (7-6) made his sixth start since rejoining the rotation Aug. 24 and allowed just one runner past first base.

White Sox starter Jon Garland (9-13) gave up 3 runs and 6 hits in 8 innings. He had been 8-1 with a 2.43 ERA in his previous 11 starts against the Royals.

"You won't see a better pitching duel," said Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "We didn't come close to scoring against Greinke, maybe one time. He pitched well. Garland threw the ball good."

Garland has a 1.80 ERA over his last 4 starts, a span during which he is 1-3 with the White Sox totaling 3 runs in the 3 losses.

"If I give my team a quality start, I feel I'm doing my job," Garland said. "I was throwing everything for a strike. I'm not very overpowering, but when I can throw all my pitches and keep those guys off balance, they couldn't sit on one pitch."

Greinke began the season as a starter, but after getting hit hard May 6 in a loss at Detroit, he was shifted to the bullpen with a 1-4 record. He worked in relief for nearly the next four months.

"I feel like I'm a starter, but other people make that decision," Greinke said. "The main thing was to get my pitch count down and go deep into the game."

He became the first Kansas City pitcher to reach double digits in strikeouts since Odalis Perez fanned 10 at Boston on Sept. 8 last year.

Joakim Soria worked a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 21 chances as Kansas City (66-86) moved back ahead of the White Sox (66-87) and out of last place in the AL Central.

"Greinke has an electric fastball," White Sox catcher Toby Hall said. "It just jumped out of his hand. Good slider, good curve."

Before 10,264, the Royals' third-lowest home crowd this season, the game was played in 1 hour, 55 minutes -- the fastest nine-inning game for Kansas City since May 10, 2005, at Toronto (1:44).

Royals 3, White Sox 0

On the mound: Starter Jon Garland went the distance, allowing 6 hits while striking out four.

At the plate: Jerry Owens (double) and Juan Uribe (single) had the only hits for the White Sox, who struck out 11 times.