Bruce Chen Pitches Gem; Royals Defeat White Sox 11-1 Behind Four Home Runs

Kansas City received a tremendous starting effort from Bruce Chen on Friday evening as the Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox 11-1 on the road. Chen would throw eight innings of two-hit baseball, allowing a single run on a seventh inning solo home run by Paul Konerko. For Konerko it was his 31st of the year.

The Royals got involved with the longball as well, as four Kansas City hitters went deep off Chicago starter Zach Stewart. Stewart struggled through four innings, allowing nine runs on 12 hits. The Royals would go on to collect 18 hits as a team.

Eric Hosmer got things started in the second inning, when he belted a pitch 420 feet to center for his 19th home run of the year and a 1-0 Royals lead. Salvador Perez would add a three-run shot in the fourth, and then it was Alcides Escobar's turn as he went deep to left to extend the lead to 7-0 at the end of the fourth.

Jeff Francoeur hit his 20th home run of the year, scoring Hosmer as the Royals expanded the lead to 9-0 in the fifth. Francoeur was one of six Kansas City batters with multiple hits. Mike Moustakas would lead the club with four hits, while Escobar had three.

Lorenzo Cain made his debut in a Royals uniforms and batted leadoff for Alex Gordon. Gordon missed the game with a case of the flu bug. Cain played center while Melky Cabrera shifted over to left field.

It was a solid overall team effort from the Royals as no Kansas City batter went without a hit. Vin Mazzaro came out of the bullpen for the ninth and pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Kansas City moves to 69-88 overall, while the White Sox fell to 76-81. Chen improved to 12-8 overall, and the Royals will be looking for their 70th win of the season tomorrow evening with Everett Teaford (2-0) set to face John Danks (7-12).