Vazquez goes 8 scoreless innings for White Sox

The White Sox wasted a brilliant effort from starting pitcher John Danks on Monday.

They didn't make the same mistake with Javier Vazquez on the mound.

Danks was working on a no-hitter against Boston for 6 innings, but one bad pitch, some bad bullpen work and barely a peep from the offense stuck the White Sox with a 5-1 loss.

In the series opener against the Kansas City Royals at U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday night, Vazquez delivered his most dominant start of the season, striking out 10 in 8 innings and scattering 5 hits in a 9-0 rout of Kansas City.

"We needed that," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

So did Vazquez.

Winning at home for the first time since June 17, the veteran right-hander got more than enough early support from Jermaine Dye, who hit a 2-run homer off K.C. starter Brian Bannister in the first inning.

Solo home runs by Nick Swisher in the fifth inning and A.J. Pierzynski in the sixth seemed to make Vazquez even more comfortable, and the Sox blew it open with 5 more runs in the eighth.

"I felt good," Vazquez said. "I threw strikes and got ahead in the count. That's the combination you should have every time."

Vazquez also avoided making key mistakes, which has cost him often during an up-and-down season.

"He was really good," Pierzynski said. "He threw his fastball over the plate, he found his changeup again, he had a nasty slider, and he had that slow curveball. We needed that to give him some confidence for the last month-and-a-half."

With the White Sox locked up in a heated race with the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central, Vazquez knows he has to pick up the pace.

"I feel like I've thrown the ball pretty good in my last few starts, but a mistake here and there cost me," Vazquez said. "The big thing is we've got a lot of games left. I just have to try to be consistent."

The White Sox rolled over the Royals without their most consistent hitter - Carlos Quentin.

After being hit by a pitch in a major-league record five straight games, the MVP candidate was scratched before Tuesday's game with soreness in his left forearm.

The injury is not serious, but Guillen said he's going to sit him out again tonight. Quentin wasn't needed in the lopsided win over the Royals.

Dye, Swisher and Pierzynski supplied the early power, and the Sox finished with 5 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits in the eighth inning against reliever Josh Newman. The most notable hit came from Chris Getz, who delivered a run-scoring single in his first at-bat in the majors.

"When you begin baseball, you dream of an experience like this,'' said Getz, who pinch hit for Alexei Ramirez in the eighth. "The first at-bat, to get a hit and an RBI, words can't describe it."

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