Hosmer hammers a solo homer in the second
CHICAGO -- That's a little better.
The Royals concluded their grinding nine-game trip by beating the White Sox, 4-1, on Wednesday in the rubber match as 27,233 fans took in the 77-degree sunny afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field.
The trip through San Diego, Colorado and Chicago proved to be a 3-6 excursion, with the three victories coming in the last four games. Perhaps more games are needed against Chicago teams. Just before this trip began, the Royals won two of three from the Cubs.
Bruce Chen earned the victory, his fifth against two losses. He retired the first nine batters he faced and was flying along with a 4-0 lead before running into some serious trouble.
The White Sox, in their sixth inning, loaded the bases on singles by Alex Rios and Gordon Beckman and a bunt by Juan Pierre. There were no outs. And the count went to 3-0 on Brent Morel. The situation doesn't get any more chancy than that.
Yet, Chen got through the crisis with just one run scoring -- Adam Dunn walked to force it home. But a strikeout and two foul popups let Chen escape without further damage.
When Chen gave up a walk to A.J. Pierzynski to start the seventh inning, however, manager Ned Yost brought in right-hander Greg Holland to pitch.
Eric Hosmer's home run was a highlight of the Royals' picket-fence approach -- a series of 1's on the scoreboard -- against White Sox starter Edwin Jackson. Hosmer's drive was almost identical to his shot in Monday night's ninth inning. Leading off the second inning, Hosmer again just cleared the center-field wall as Alex Rios gave chase. There was no video replay necessary for Hosmer's eighth homer, however.
Jeff Francoeur drove in two runs, with a single in the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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