A couple of Missouri natives helped the White Sox to beat the Royals 3-1 and rob Kansas City of a sweep at Kauffman Stadium on Sunday. St. Charles native Mark Buehrle allowed six singles and no runs in an eight-inning performance and Joe Crede who is from the mid-Missouri town of Westphalia drove in two runs. Crede belted a two-run double off Royals’ starter Scott Elarton in the second to score former Royal Jermaine Dye and A.J. Pierzynski to give the Sox a 2-0 lead.
Elarton was tagged with a solo home run by Jim Thome, his third, to give Chicago a 3-0 lead in the eighth. Elarton allowed five hits and three runs with a walk and four strikeouts to drop to 0-2 on the season.
Reggie Sanders hit a solo home run with one out for Kansas City’s only run. It came after manager Buddy Bell was ejected for arguing whether or not Crede caught Mike Sweeney’s line drive. He was originally called safe by third base umpire Bruce Froemming, but after a discussion, the call was overruled. That was the first out of the ninth.
Emil Brown grounded out to third and Angel Berroa struck out swinging to end the game.
The Royals are off Monday and will open up a three-game series with the Yankees on Tuesday.