White Sox 5, Royals 2: Andre Rienzo boards winning bandwagon

Andre Rienzo finally picked up his first major-league victory, and all he needed was one big crooked number by the offense to get the job done.

Capped off by a Dayan Viciedo grand slam, the White Sox threw five runs down for Rienzo in the fourth inning, and despite spending most of the game working from the stretch, Rienzo made it hold up over six strong. It should've been his second or third win, but at least he's gotten the first one out of the way.

In the process, the White Sox posted their first five-game winning streak of the season.

The Sox's fourth-inning explosion was preceded by a little bit of buildup, as they started stinging Jeremy Guthrie's pitches the inning before, but with no luck. Alexei Ramirez then kicked off the fourth with a laser double past Alex Gordon in left, and the payoff began.

Ramriez scored on Adam Dunn's single through the middle for the game's first run. Paul Konerko kept the line moving with a single, and two batters later, Conor Gillaspie shot a single through the right side to load the bases.

That brought Viciedo to the plate, and he barreled up a 1-0 slider and hit a no-doubter into the seats in left center for a grand slam that put the game out of reach before the halfway point.

Rienzo didn't quite make it an easy night, as he allowed the leadoff runner to reach in every inning but the first (and the bullpen continued that trend into the seventh). Sometimes it was his fault, and other times it wasn't -- Viciedo dropping a fly on the warning track in the second, for instance -- but the bleeding only resulted in single runs in the fourth and sixth innings.

Rienzo limited the damage with his good, biting curveball, as he struck out five Royals in his six innings. Paul Konerko also helped by starting a slick 3-6-3 double play on Chris Getz after the speedy Jarrod Dyson reached to start the third inning. He never found a groove, but he wasn't really against the ropes at any point either, and so he came away with his fourth quality start in five tries.

Also, Kansas City baserunning undermined their last scoring threat for the second straight night.

Nate Jones found himself in a little trouble by allowing a one-out single to Salvador Perez, then a walk to Mike Moustakas (that should've been a strikeout, but Tom Hallion squeezed him big-time). With Moustakas battling calf problems, Ned Yost called for Emilio Bonifacio to pinch run for him. Bonifacio wasn't out there for long -- he broke the wrong way on a soft liner to Konerko, who stepped on the bag for an inning ending double play.

White Sox pitching didn't record its first 1-2-3 inning until the last one, as Addison Reed set the Royals down in order for his fifth save in as many games, which is a White Sox record.

Bullet points:

• A pitch got caught in the backstop for the second straight game, but nobody was on base.
• Avisail Garcia extended his hitting streak to eight games by catching Alcides Escobar underestimating his speed on a routine grounder.
• Konerko wasn't perfect in the field -- he was charged with an error for failing to snag Alexei Ramirez's high throw on a Dyson grounder.

Record: 51-74 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights