White Sox 8, Royals 3: Bats blast Ian Kennedy

Your usual followed-from-work bullet-point recap...

*The White Sox have struggled against right-handed pitching, but they solved the problem for a day against Ian Kennedy. Jose Abreu teed off for a two-run shot in the first, and Matt Davidson added a 452-foot solo homer in the second to set the tone.

*Derek Holland, on the other hand, kept the Royals scoreless through six to allow his offense to keep expanding the lead. He gave up just two hits through the sixth, after which his command started to wobble. He issued his first walk of the game to lead off the seventh, which came around to score on a bloop single and sacrifice fly.

He should have been able to finish seven, but Davidson botched an attempt to back-hand an Alcides Escobar chopper, allowing a second unearned run to score. Rick Renteria ended going to Anthony Swarzak to finish the inning. Still, Holland allowed just three hits and a walk over his 6²⁄₃ innings, striking out seven. His ERA is 2.02.

*Cody Asche helped pad that lead a day after a midgame benching for not running out a dropped third strike. After dos Garcias reached without a hit (Avisail Garcia reached on an error, Leury Garcia was hit in the foot) and moved into scoring position on a balk, Asche bounced one over first base to score both.

In the seventh, the Sox jumped on Travis Wood with three straight hits. Melky Cabrera singled, Abreu doubled, and Avisail Garcia scored them both by pushing a grounder through the right side.

*Davidson then regained the run from his error by leading off the eighth with a walk, taking second on a passed ball, moving to third on a grounder and scoring on a sac fly. He was a late addition to the lineup, as a stiff back shelved Todd Frazier.

*David Holmberg made his White Sox debut, giving up a ringing double to Lorenzo Cain and a shift-beating RBI single by Eric Hosmer.

*Tommy Kahnle closed it out by facing the minimum, erasing his second walk of the season with a double play.

*The White Sox leave Kansas City with a split, which is good enough to match their 2016 win total against the Royals in just seven games (five).

Record: 15-12 | Box score | Highlights