John Danks and the Chicago White Sox are focused on catching Detroit and Cleveland in the AL Central.

Moving above .500 would be a nice start.

Danks pitched six strong innings, Brent Lillibridge hit a three-run homer and the White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 6-2 on Sunday.

Paul Konerko added three hits for the White Sox (60-60), who have won eight of 10 to reach .500. They haven’t had a winning record since they were 7-6 on April 15.

Alexei Ramirez had two hits and scored twice as Chicago improved its abysmal home record to 26-33 and moved within four games of AL Central-leading Detroit, which lost 8-5 at Baltimore. The White Sox also won consecutive games in a single series at U.S. Cellular Field for the first time since June 21 and 22 against the Cubs.

“I think .500 is a little over blown,” Danks said. “Obviously, we didn’t expect to be .500 at this point coming into the year. We’re looking at more Cleveland and Detroit than being .500. That’s just a reality. We have to win ballgames.

“We have to finish ahead of Cleveland and Detroit. If that puts us above .500 so be it. Our focus is more on being ahead of them and being in first than being above .500.”

Danks (5-9) allowed two runs and four hits, struck out six and walked four, improving to 5-1 with a 2.29 ERA in his last nine starts. The left-hander lost his first eight decisions of the season.

“He’s got his cutter. It’s 90 miles an hour and he’s got a plus-changeup, plus-fastball and plus-cutter,” Royals designated hitter Billy Butler said. “When you’ve got that kind of stuff and it’s working, you’re going to have a tough day. We battled and got two off him, but it felt like a lot when we got two off a guy like that.”

Jeff Francis (4-13) lasted just 3 2/3 innings for Kansas City, which has lost six of seven. Top prospect Mike Moustakas went 0 for 3 and is 0 for 34 this season against Chicago.

The White Sox jumped on Francis in the first inning. Ramirez was hit by a pitch with one out and moved to third on Konerko’s single. Carlos Quentin then hit an RBI single and Lillibridge drove a 1-2 fastball over the wall in left for his 10th homer.

“He left a fastball right over the plate and I was able to get my hands through it and get it over the fence,” Lillibridge said. “It was a huge one. I hit the ball hard a lot yesterday but I couldn’t find the RBIs, it was frustrating, but keep on swinging it and it will eventually pan out. It was big one early, it put us up 4-0 and I knew that would be enough for John.”

Francis has allowed 26 runs in the first inning over his 25 starts this season.

“As long as I’ve been pitching, that’s been somewhat of an issue,” Francis said. “You try everything you can. I think if I found a reason, I probably wouldn’t be doing it.”

Danks was working on a no-hitter before Butler reached on a bad-hop single with two out in the sixth. Butler’s roller down the first-base line hopped up and past Lillibridge. Official scorer Bob Rosenberg originally ruled the play an error, but the call was quickly changed to a hit.

“There is a pretty good divot right there. There was nothing he can do about it,” Danks said. “They switched it back to a hit. I heard the boos. I don’t blame Lilli at all. That’s a tough play, there was nothing you can do about it. There was two outs, I should’ve pitched over it.”

Jeff Francoeur followed with a double down the left-field line and Mitch Maier had a two-run single to cut the White Sox lead to 6-2.

The White Sox open an important three-game series against second-place Cleveland on Tuesday. They are 6-1 against the Tribe this year.

— Associated Press —

Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer and Tyler Flowers added his first home run in the majors to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Konerko went deep in the third and Flowers added a solo shot in the fifth to help the White Sox snap a seven-game home losing streak. Flowers also had a single and a walk.

Juan Pierre had three singles and scored two runs for Chicago.

Jesse Crain (7-3) got the win in relief after pitching out of starter Jake Peavy’s jam in the seventh and his own in the eighth. Chris Sale got the last three outs, earning his fourth save.

Peavy allowed four runs and nine hits over 6 2-3 innings.

Luke Hochevar (8-9) took the loss, allowing eight hits and five runs in six innings.

— Associated Press —

Billy Butler and Melky Cabrera homered to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 5-1 win over the Chicago White on Friday night.

Bruce Chen continued his mastery of the White Sox, holding Chicago to one hit over six innings. Chen (7-5) is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in three starts against the White Sox this season.

Butler homered in the sixth and had an RBI single in the first. Cabrera broke the game open with a three-run homer in the ninth.

Alex Gordon singled, doubled, walked twice, scored a run, stole a base and reached on catcher’s interference for the Royals, who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Rookie Zach Stewart (1-2) pitched well in his home debut as a member of the White Sox. He held the Royals to two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Juan Pierre had an RBI single, driving in Chicago’s only run in the ninth, and walked twice.

Chicago’s Paul Konerko singled, extending his hitting streak to nine games, and walked twice. The White Sox had just three hits in the game but still managed to strand 10 runners.

The White Sox have lost seven straight at U.S. Cellular Field and 13 of their last 17. Chicago fell five games behind Detroit in the AL Central.

Butler’s two hits came on the heels of his 1-for-15 series at Tampa Bay. Butler has hit eight of his 14 home runs in the month since the All-Star break.

Chen walked three batters and hit two more combined in the first three innings.

Alex Rios ended both the first and third by flying out with the bases loaded. Rios, who entered the game hitting .170 in 94 at-bats with runners in scoring position, was loudly booed after each plate appearance.

After the White Sox were unable to take advantage of Chen’s early wildness, he recovered to retire the last seven batters he faced and 10 of the last 11.

Brent Morel was the only baserunner in that stretch, reaching on a double error in the fourth. Chen appeared to have struck out Morel with an 0-2 pitch was called for a quick pitch, an automatic ball.

— Associated Press —