Jeremy Guthrie pitched into the eighth inning in his third straight dominant outing and Salvador Perez drove in three runs as the Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game series sweep of the AL Central leaders.
Paul Konerko reached on an infield single with two out in the seventh for Chicago’s first hit. Shortstop Alcides Escobar fielded Konerko’s grounder on the outfield grass and his one-hop throw was dropped by first baseman Eric Hosmer. Many of the Royals felt that was an error.
The White Sox got two other hits off Guthrie in the eighth when Dayan Viciedo and Ray Olmedo singled with two outs. Both runners scored when DeWayne Wise’s hard grounder went between the legs of Hosmer tying it at 2.
The Royals regained the lead with three runs in the bottom half. Billy Butler led off with a walk and was replaced by Jarrod Dyson, who stole second for his 23rd stolen base in 26 attempts and scored on Perez’s single to center off Jesse Crain (2-2). Mike Moustakas walked and scored on a throwing error by catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Lorenzo Cain’s two-out single scored Hosmer, who reached on a walk.