Adam Dunn, Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham celebrate the Sox win over the Royals (photo/MLB)

Adam Dunn, Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham celebrate the Sox win over the Royals (photo/MLB)

Adam Dunn’s three-run homer off Royals’ reliever Aaron Crow in the eighth inning gave the Chicago White Sox a nice five-run cushion, but the Royals made a late run of their own before falling 7-6 on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.  Their second loss in a row drops them to 22-23 on the season.

I thought the Royals caught a break with rookie Jose Abreu out of the lineup.  He leads the majors with 15 homers, but Dunn and Paul Konerko have hit three-run homers in the first two games of this series.

Andre Rienzo (4-0) limited the Royals to two runs and five hits over six innings. He struck out a career-high eight, as the White Sox out-homered the Royals 5-0 in winning the first two games of this series.

Down 7-2 in the eighth, the Royals started to fight back.  Sox relievers Scott Downs and Frank Francisco combined to retire only one of the six batters they faced in the eighth as the Royals scored three runs. Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain had RBIs, while Cain scored on a Francisco wild pitch to cut the lead to 7-5.  In the ninth, Gordon had an RBI to make it a one-run game.

Royals rookie right-hander Yordano Ventura (2-4) took the loss, allowing four runs and seven hits, including a Tyler Flowers home run, in six innings.