An impressive effort by Jeremy Guthrie didn’t just snap a nearly 10-weeklong drought for the Royals right-hander on Wednesday night.

It may have been one of Kansas City’s best pitching performances of the season.

Guthrie earned his first victory since late May as he scattered five hits over eight innings in a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“That arguably could be the best-pitched game we had all year,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was in total control … locating his pitches down, changing speeds, great command of the strike zone (and) never really got into any spots where they really threatened.”

Guthrie (1-3) got his first win with the Royals and improved to 4-12 overall since arriving in a late July trade with Colorado. He struck out five and walked none.

His last victory was an 11-5 decision over Houston on May 31. He struggled through nine losses in his next 13 appearances.

“You want to win, but you can’t make it happen no matter how much you worry about it,” Guthrie said. “All you can do is just try to make better pitches and limit your runs. You give up zero runs you’ve got a better chance to win than if you give up six.

“I think that was more the focus than getting a win was can I go out there and give a good outing that gives us a chance to win.”

Solo home runs by Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez provided all the runs for Kansas City.

Greg Holland gave up a run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth but picked up his third consecutive save.

Jose Quintana (4-2) worked seven innings and gave up five hits. He walked two and struck out five.

Kansas City took two of three in the series. Chicago had won its past four series and five straight at home.

Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the second on Moustakas’ 17th home run of the season. With two outs, the third baseman lined Quintana’s first pitch deep in to the seats in right.

Perez made it 2-0 with a two-out homer to right on a 2-0 pitch from Quintana. The home run was his sixth of the season.

Chicago had a runner in scoring position in the third when Alejandro De Aza singled with two outs and reached second on an errant pickoff throw from Perez to first baseman Eric Hosmer. But Gordon Beckham ended the inning with a fly to right.

The Royals tried to pad the lead in the sixth with runners on first and second with two outs, but Perez’ flied out to center to end the threat.

Guthrie had retired nine straight into the sixth inning when Beckham lined a two-out double down the left field line. Guthrie closed the inning by striking out Adam Dunn looking.

The left-handed Quintana had four straight no-decisions entering Wednesday. He last won on July 5, a 2-1 victory over Texas where he surrendered one earned run while striking out eight and walking just one.

White Sox reliever Jesse Crain worked the eighth while Brett Myers pitched a scoreless ninth. In the ninth, Holland gave up a one-out single to Dunn, who scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s two-out grounder up the middle.

“(Guthrie) was spotting the ball really well,” Pierzynski said. “He didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes. He kept the ball down really well, elevated when he wanted to and he had a good breaking ball.”

Yost said he was hoping for continued improvement from Guthrie, winless in his first three starts with a 7.71 ERA since arriving in the trade with the Rockies.

“(General manager) Dayton (Moore) said when we got him it might be four starts before he gets it going,” Yost said. “He’s gotten progressively better each start, was really good against Texas his last start and was absolutely spot on, spectacular tonight.”

Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko and outfielder Alex Rios were scratches on Wednesday. Rios had a sore back while Konerko suffered concussion symptoms in the aftermath of a first base play on Tuesday. Both will have two days off.

Ventura said he toyed with a lineup without Konerko, Rios, De Aza and third baseman Kevin Youkilis.

“We actually had a lineup without those guys in it,” he said. “It was creative, it was a fun morning.”

De Aza missed three games with back stiffness while Youkilis was out of Tuesday’s game with a sore right knee. Both were in Wednesday’s starting lineup.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals wanted Bruce Chen to show more aggression. He finally did.

Chen outpitched Jake Peavy for his first win in six weeks, Billy Butler hit his career-high 22nd homer and the Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2 on Tuesday night.

The White Sox had won 10 of 13, but saw their lead over Detroit in the AL Central shrink to a half game when the Tigers beat the New York Yankees 6-5 earlier in the night.

Gordon Beckham hit his first career leadoff homer for Chicago, and the White Sox scored again in the sixth after Kansas City tied it in the top half. But RBI singles by Tony Abreu and Alex Gordon off Peavy (9-8) in the seventh gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead.

Butler added to it in the eighth with a two-run drive off Nate Jones after Mike Moustakas walked, and the Royals hung on from there, giving Chen (8-9) his first win since June 26.

The left-hander gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings and finally came out on top after going 0-3 in his previous seven starts. It was a big improvement over his previous outing, when he got knocked out in the third against Cleveland after being staked to a six-run lead.

He and manager Ned Yost had a long talk about being aggressive following that game, which the Royals eventually won. The message? Go after the hitters, establish the fastball.

“His last three or four starts, he comes out and he hasn’t established his fastball,” Yost said. “All he’s doing is throwing 82, 83, trying to get his control down, but he’s got nothing to speed the bats up so they sit soft.”

It was different against the White Sox.

Even when Beckham connected an 87 mph pitch in the first, Yost didn’t blink because the home run came on a fastball. Chen was following the plan.

“Obviously, I’m trying to establish my fastball,” he said. “I’m trying to keep the ball down, but also pitching in and cutting the ball in on the righties was a big plus for me.”

The way Peavy was pitching, the Royals needed that. And the bullpen did its job with Kelvin Herrera pitching 1 1/3 innings and Greg Holland retiring the side in the ninth for his second save in four chances.

Peavy also gave up seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, but was a tough-luck loser after beating Minnesota in his previous two starts. He found his control after walking the game’s first two batters, issuing just one the rest of the way, but he couldn’t protect the lead after the White Sox went up 2-1.

“I don’t like to lose,” he said. “I just hate to lose. I wish I could have done more to help us win, I really do. It stinks when you feel like you have a chance to win and you don’t. You get so close and you could have done things differently to win.”

The Royals had runners on first and third with one out in the seventh after Jeff Francoeur reached on a bunt down the third-base line and Eric Hosmer singled. Abreu then tied it with a single to left, and although Hosmer got thrown out at third by Dayan Viciedo, the Royals weren’t finished.

Jarrod Dyson just beat out a single to second after Beckham made a diving stop on his grounder, and Gordon then chased Peavy with a single to center that made it 3-2, putting Kansas City up for good.

Now, the Royals are 4-3 in August after dropping 19 of 26 in July.

“I think the last couple days we’ve had renewed energy, renewed vision, and I’m pleased with where we’re at right now,” Yost said.

— Associated Press —

Chris Sale had time to catch his breath. Now, maybe, he’s locked in.

Sale pitched eight solid innings, Paul Konerko and Gordon Beckham homered late, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Monday night.

“I went through a little dead arm period, but it’s par for the course,” Sale said. “It’s all behind us now. We’ve got a couple months left and we’re going to have to make a push and it’s not going to be easy.”

The margin for error is slim, with a 1 ½-game lead over Detroit for the AL Central lead. The Tigers are playing well, but so are the White Sox. And they pulled this one out thanks to a strong start by their pitcher and some big hits toward the end.

Konerko tied it leading off the seventh and Beckham gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead with a solo shot in the eighth off Luis Mendoza. Kevin Youkilis added an RBI double in the inning, and the White Sox won for the 10th time in 13 games.

A.J. Pierzynski added two hits, and although he didn’t go deep after tying a club record with homers in five straight games, he did drive in the first run with a double in the second.

Sale (13-3), meanwhile, looked sharp on nine days’ rest, allowing two runs and eight hits while striking out seven without a walk. He gave up solo homers to Jeff Francoeur and Billy Butler, but otherwise kept the Royals off-balance, with his fastball consistently in the mid-90s.

Sale was passed over during the last time through the rotation. The White Sox wanted to give him more rest in his first year as a starter.

“It gives you a little bit more time to recover and catch your breath, I guess you could say, but you’ve still got a couple of months left,” Sale said. “You’ve just got to keep going with it.”

The Royals were impressed.

“If he stays healthy he has a chance to win a bunch of ballgames in his career,” Francoeur said.

Addison Reed worked the ninth for his 20th save in 23 chances, retiring Eric Hosmer on a double-play grounder with runners on first and second to end the game.

Mendoza (5-8) gave up seven hits and four runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Butler made it 2-1 in the seventh with his 21st homer. Konerko tied it in the bottom half with a line drive to left that just cleared the wall and landed in the bullpen.

The Royals had runners on first and third in the eighth, but Sale got out of it. Shortstop Alexei Ramirez made a diving stop on Alex Gordon’s soft liner. Sale tagged out Tony Abreu trying to score on Alcides Escobar’s safety squeeze and struck out Lorenzo Cain on three pitches, pumping his left fist on the way to the dugout.

“We know what’s on the line and where we want to go,” said Beckham, who hadn’t homered since June 20. “If we’re going to get there, everybody’s got to step up and pitch in.”

— Associated Press —

Given where the Kansas City Royals are, manager Ned Yost will savor any victory.

Errors by Alberto Gonzalez and Mike Olt in a three-pitch span allowed the tiebreaking run to score in the 10th inning Sunday, giving the Royals a 7-6 victory over the Texas Rangers.

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“Ugly, come on. How can you call that game ugly?” Yost said. “It’s a beautiful win. Against a team of that caliber and as hard fought as this series was and for us to come up with nothing going into today, it’s a beautiful win.”

With the score 6-6, Michael Kirkman (0-2) walked Billy Butler leading off the 10th. Gonzalez, who entered in the ninth when Elvis Andrus left because of a sore shoulder, booted a routine grounder by Salvador Perez as pinch-runner Eric Hosmer advanced.

“The first pitch, he hits a double-play ball, but it was such a rocket the shortstop booted it,” Yost said. “We’re due one of this wins every once in a while.”

Jeff Francoeur took a ball and then grounded to third. Olt, who made his major league debut Thursday, threw the ball into right field as Hosmer came home.

“There’s no ugly win,” Francoeur said. “They’re all beautiful.”

Kansas City, with the poorest record in the AL, improved to 45-62.

Texas dropped to 13-15 since the start of July as its four-game winning streak ended.

Greg Holland (4-3) threw 46 pitches in two innings, working around three hits and two walks.

“Holland had a gutsy effort,” Yost said.

Texas had threatened in the 10th, loading the bases with one out. But shortstop Alcides Escobar made a diving catch to his right of Mitch Moreland’s line drive for the second out,and Holland struck out Olt on a 3-2 pitch.

Olt walked leading off the ninth, stole second and took third on a throwing error by Perez, the Royals catcher. But Andrus failed to get a bunt down and Olt was out at home on the failed squeeze attempt.

“It wasn’t a good pitch to bunt, but you have to go down with it and make contact,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “I know it was a pretty bad pitch, but it’s a squeeze. You have to make contact any way you can. They didn’t sniff it out; it just happened to be a bad pitch. You’ve got to make contact with it.”

Derek Holland gave up six runs and eight hits in six innings — he allowed two homers, raising his total to nine in his last four starts.

“I didn’t give my team a chance to win,” Holland said. “They scored some runs and I gave them back. It was pathetic. I’m very upset with myself. I’m supposed to step up and I threw like garbage all day.”

Royals starter Luke Hochevar gave up five runs — one earned — and four hits in six innings. He threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of his first 16 batters.

Perez hit a two-run double with two outs in the first, but a throwing error by Butler on David Murphy’s grounder led to four unearned runs in a five-run fourth.

Adrian Beltre singled in a run, ending a streak of 12 games without an RBI — his longest since going 15 games without any starting the 2006 season. Beltre’s hit scored Josh Hamilton, who led off the inning with a double, and stopped an 0-for-15 slide with runners in scoring position.

Olt hit a sacrifice fly to the right-field warning track with the bases loaded, and Andrus hit a two-run triple.

Butler singled in a run in the bottom half, Francoeur’s fifth-inning homer cut the gap to 5-4 and Brayan Pena hit a two-run homer in the sixth to put the Royals back ahead. Four of Pena’s 14 career home runs have been against the Rangers, his most against any club.

Michael Young’s RBI double tied it 6-all in the seventh. Andrus attempted to score on Young’s double, but was thrown out by Escobar on the relay from center fielder Jarrod Dyson.

— Associated Press —