Wade Davis pitched out of bases loaded jams in the first two innings, Billy Butler and Jeff Francoeur homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 3-0 on Wednesday night to sweep the three-game series.

The Royals have won four straight and six of seven to move three-games above .500 for the first time since May 12, 2011, when they were 20-17.

Butler homered in the first, while Francoeur led off the seventh with a home run to extend his hitting streak to seven games.

The Royals got another run in the seventh when Alcides Escobar’s single scored Chris Getz. Salvador Perez had three of the nine Kansas City hits.

It was 45 degrees for the first pitch, but the wind chill was 33 with most of the game played in a rain.

Davis (1-0), acquired from Tampa Bay in a December trade, held the Twins to four singles in five scoreless innings, striking out six, walking three and hitting a batter.

Twins right-hander Liam Hendriks (0-1), who is 1-11 in 22 career starts, took the loss, although he gave up just one run – Butler’s homer – on four hits in five innings.

Davis, who threw 52 pitches in the first two innings, struck out Aaron Hicks and Joe Mauer to start the game, before walking two and yielding a bloop single to Justin Morneau. Trevor Plouffe flied out to end the inning.

Davis faced a bigger predicament in the second when the Twins loaded the bases with none out. He rebounded by striking out Hicks and Mauer and retiring Josh Willingham on an infield popup.

Bruce Chen replaced Davis and worked three innings, giving up two hits, while Kelvin Herrera completed the shutout with three strikeouts to pick up his second save in as many opportunities.

The Twins stranded 12 runners and went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

— Associated Press —

Jeremy Guthrie won his career-best seventh straight decision, dating to last season, and Alcides Escobar had three hits and an RBI as the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 7-4 Tuesday night.

The Royals, who had not scored in the first two innings in their first seven games, sent nine to the plate in a five-run first. Mike Pelfrey (1-1) gave up hits to the first five batters he faced.

Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham and Eduardo Escobar – the first of his career – each hit solo homers to keep the Twins close.

Guthrie (2-0) improved to 7-0 in his past 13 starts dating to last Aug. 8. Guthrie, who has a 2.37 ERA during the stretch, allowed four runs on six hits, including the three home runs, in 6 2/3 innings.

Greg Holland picked up the save, but not before walking two and giving up a single to Escobar, his third hit, to load the bases. Holland struck out Mauer to end the game, logging his second save in three chances.

After Mauer gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the first, Alex Gordon and Escobar got things started for the Royals with singles. Billy Butler doubled down the left-field line to score Gordon, Mike Moustakas singled home Escobar, and Salvador Perez doubled home Butler. Eric Hosmer’s groundout scored Moustakas, and Lorenzo Cain’s two-out single scored Perez.

Pelfrey, who made only three starts last season for the New York Mets before needing reconstructive elbow surgery on May 1, was chased after two innings, allowing six runs on eight hits. He went to Wichita Heights High School and Wichita State, about 200 miles from Kauffman Stadium.

Escobar drove in a run in the second to make it 5-2, but Gordon opened the Royals’ half of the second with a triple and scored on Alcides Escobar’s single.

After Willingham’s homer in the third, the Royals scored their final run on Jeff Francoeur’s double that scored Hosmer.

Eduardo Escobar went deep in the fifth to cap the scoring.

The Royals, who had a 12-game losing streak last April, have won three straight and five of six.

— Associated Press —

Royals fans waited almost all afternoon to see some offense. When their team finally built a rally, it came just in time to give Ervin Santana a much-deserved win.

Santana pitched eight strong innings, Alcides Escobar doubled home the go-ahead run and Kansas City beat the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Monday in its home opener.

“Better later than never,” Santana said. “I know we are going to score runs.”

Santana (1-1), acquired from the Los Angeles Angels on Oct. 31 for minor league left-hander Brandon Sisk, gave up a run and eight singles. He struck out seven, walked one and hit a batter with a pitch.

Santana allowed only four hits after the first inning, when the Twins scored their lone run.

“He really had his big slider working and he had a good fastball, too,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “After the first inning he really settled down. His slider was phenomenal. He was able to throw it at the back foot of their big sluggers and keep them off balance. Giving us eight strong innings was big.”

Twins right-hander Kevin Correia (0-1) limited the Royals to five singles and no runs over the first seven innings before Lorenzo Cain doubled to right-center to open a three-run eighth. After Chris Getz’s sacrifice bunt moved Cain to third, Alex Gordon singled to tie the score.

Escobar’s double scored Gordon and knocked Correia out of the game. Jared Burton gave up a run-scoring single to Billy Butler, who tied a club record with seven RBIs on Sunday in Philadelphia.

“Correia did a good job getting us to hit on top of the ball and hitting ground balls,” Yost said. “In the eighth he got some pitches up and we were able to get some runs. These guys just keep plugging away. They have the confidence that they’re going to hit.”

Correia took the loss after giving up three runs and eight hits in 7 1-3 innings.

“I made a couple bad pitches,” he said. “I got behind on (Cain) and I didn’t want to walk him. I threw a middlish pitch that he got enough of to get it in the gap. The pitch to Gordon, I tried to throw a fastball and it ran back over the middle.”

The Royals, who had the best spring training record in the majors, won their first home opener since 2008 when they beat the New York Yankees 5-2.

“It means a lot,” Yost said. “Last year there was as much excitement, but we were down seven after three innings. We wanted to show our fans some exciting baseball. We wanted them to see in person what they have been reading about. We’re very happy to win the home opener in front of a sellout crowd.”

Aaron Crow worked the ninth to earn his first save of the season and the third of his career – two against the Twins. His previous save came July 21 against Minnesota. The Royals, who have come from behind to win three straight games, have three saves from three different pitchers this season.

Crow walked Chris Parmelee with one out, but coaxed Brian Dozier to bounce into a game-ending double play.

“The decision was easy,” Yost said. “(Greg) Holland and (Kelvin) Herrera were unavailable. It’s too early in the season for them to be pitching three days in a row. Aaron’s an All-Star. I don’t like to say it, but he’s one of the big four we’ve got out there, with Holland and Herrera and (Tim) Collins. I’ve got confidence in any one of those four closing the game.”

Joe Mauer scored on Ryan Doumit’s two-out single in the first for the only Minnesota run. It was the first time this season the Twins scored first after being outscored 9-1 in the first two innings during their first six games.

The Twins bunched four singles in the first inning, but managed just the one run after Doumit ended the inning by being thrown out scrambling to get back to second base after Justin Morneau stopped at third on Trevor Plouffe’s single.

— Associated Press —

Billy Butler hit a grand slam that was confirmed by video review and tied a Royals franchise record with seven RBIs, and Kansas City held on for a 9-8 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.

Butler’s fifth-inning homer, the first slam of his career and the first ever allowed by Philadelphia left-hander Cole Hamels, put Kansas City ahead 6-4.

James Shields (1-1), acquired in an offseason trade with Tampa Bay, earned his first victory as a Royal. The right-hander gave up hits to five of the first six batters in a four-run first inning, but settled down to blank the Phillies for the next five innings on five hits while striking out eight and walking none.

Butler came through with the bases loaded again in the sixth, hitting a two-run single off Chad Durbin. With the hit, Butler became the 12th Royals player have seven RBIs.

Chris Getz opened the fifth with a double to right, Alex Gordon reached on an infield single and Alcides Escobar walked to load the bases and set up Butler.

Hamels (0-2) appeared visibly upset throughout the inning, perhaps disagreeing with some close balls and strikes calls by home-plate umpire Eric Cooper. His mood didn’t improve when Butler launched a 1-0 fastball just over the metal fence that tops the green padded wall in left field. The ball hit off a wall behind the field wall and bounced back into play.

The umpires originally ruled that the ball hit off the top of the wall before going to replay to confirm that it was a homer.

The Phillies looked on their way to the loss trailing 9-4 entering the ninth before rallying.

Jimmy Rollins hit a three-run homer to right off J.C. Gutierrez. Greg Holland relieved Gutierrez with one out in the ninth. He got Chase Utley to pop out to center before singles by Ryan Howard and Michael Young, who had four hits, put runners on first and second with two outs.

Kansas City manager Ned Yost then lifted Holland, who blew the save in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Philadelphia, and replaced him with right-hander Kelvin Herrera to face pinch-hitter Laynce Nix.

Nix singled home Howard to pull Philadelphia to 9-8 and Young and Nix advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. But Herrera struck out Erik Kratz in a nine-pitch at-bat to earn his first save.

The Phillies struck out 14 times Sunday.

Hamels struggled for the second straight start, allowing eight runs on nine hits with four walks and two strikeouts in 5 2-3 innings. Hamels opened the season by giving up five runs on seven hits in five innings in Philadelphia’s 7-5 season-opening loss at Atlanta last Monday night. The three-time All-Star has a 10.97 ERA after two starts.

Hamels looked on his way to an easy sixth inning with two outs and Shields batting, but the Royals pitcher lined a single to right. Gordon followed with a double to right, moving Shields to third and prompting Phillies manager Charlie Manuel to lift his ace for Durbin. The right-handed reliever walked Escobar to load the bases before Butler laced a single to left-center to plate two.

Ben Revere had three hits for Philadelphia, and Gordon had three hits for Kansas City.

— Associated Press —

Pinch-hitter Kevin Frandsen hit a bases-clearing, three-run double with two outs in the ninth off closer Greg Holland to lift the Phillies to a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night in front of the smallest crowd in Philadelphia in four years.

The Phillies had just two hits and trailed 3-1 to start the inning. Holland (0-1) walked Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Michael Young to load the bases. He then struck out Domonic Brown swinging and fanned John Mayberry Jr. looking.

But Frandsen ripped a first-pitch fastball to right-center to knock in all three runners. Young slid in safely well ahead of the throw and the dugout emptied as players mobbed Frandsen.

Royals starter Luis Mendoza threw six stellar innings, and the Royals’ bullpen went into the ninth with seven hitless innings in the series.

Antonio Bastardo (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win. John Lannan was sharp in his Phillies debut. He allowed three runs and five hits, striking out five in seven innings.

Mendoza allowed one run and two hits, striking out seven.

The Phillies are 2-3 and were looking more like the team that went 81-81 last year after winning five straight NL East titles from 2007-11.

Then came the ninth-inning rally. There weren’t many fans left to witness it, however.

A crowd of 39,475 at Citizens Bank Park was the first under 40,000 since April 29, 2009, when 36,351 came out for a game against Washington. The Phillies led the majors in attendance each of the last two seasons.

Lannan was cruising along with a no-hitter until the fifth. He hit Lorenzo Cain with a pitch to start the inning and Jeff Francoeur followed with a double down the left field line. Miguel Tejada drove in a run with a groundout to second base and Elliot Johnson singled in a run for a 2-0 lead.

Making just their third-ever trip to Philadelphia, the Royals will try to win the rare interleague series Sunday afternoon. They last played here in 2004.

The Phillies beat Kansas City to win the 1980 World Series and claim the franchise’s first of two championships. They clinched the title with a victory in Game 6 at old Veterans Stadium.

Lannan retired the first nine batters he faced before Alex Gordon reached on second baseman Utley’s fielding error in the fourth. Lannan spent his first six seasons with Washington. He was signed as a free agent by the Phillies not for his performance against them. Lannan was 3-13 with a 5.53 ERA against the Phillies. He entered the game 39-39 with a 3.80 ERA against the rest of the majors.

The Phillies cut it to 2-1 when Ben Revere lined an RBI single off third baseman Tejada’s glove with two outs in the bottom half.

Francoeur led off the seventh with a double to right-center and Tejada followed with a double down the right-field line to make it 3-1.

— Associated Press —

Once the Kansas City Royals started hitting, they piled it on.

Alex Gordon and Chris Getz each hit a bases-loaded triple and the Royals rallied to beat Philadelphia 13-4 Friday, spoiling the Phillies’ home opener.

The interleague matchup was a rare one between teams that first met in the 1980 World Series – the Royals’ only other visit to Philadelphia came in 2004.

After getting a total of 17 hits in their first three games against the Chicago White Sox, the Royals had 19 against the Phillies. Eric Hosmer was 4 for 5 with three RBIs, and the Royals overcame a 4-0 deficit to surge past Kyle Kendrick and the Phillies.

”We’ve been struggling with the bats,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”It was a matter of time until we broke out.”

Breakout is an understatement. The Royals got 17 hits and 13 runs in the last five innings.

”They put us in a hole, but the offense stepped up,” Hosmer said. ”Gordon got the big hit and the offense took a load off our shoulders after that.”

Domonic Brown and Erik Kratz hit solo homers for the Phillies, who are off to a 1-3 start.

Bruce Chen (1-0) struck out two in a perfect fifth in relief of Wade Davis to earn the win. Davis allowed four runs and nine hits in four innings in his first start for Kansas City.

Four Royals relievers combined to toss five hitless innings.

”Our bullpen was fantastic, all of them,” Yost said.

Kendrick (0-1) gave up five runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. He cruised through the first four innings, giving up only two hits.

”It’s disappointing,” Kendrick said. ”They got some hits. I’m not worried at all. It got away from us.”

Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and George Brett, rivals when the Phillies beat the Royals to win their first championship 33 years ago, threw out the first pitches.

Schmidt was the MVP of the ’80 Series. He capped it off by leaping on pitcher Tug McGraw after the lefty threw strike three past Willie Wilson to clinch Game 6 and set off a wild celebration at old Veterans Stadium.

Looking to return to the postseason after their streak of five straight NL East titles ended last year when they finished 81-81, the Phillies will need better pitching. Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay were roughed up by Atlanta in the first two games, and Kendrick unraveled after four strong innings.

Hosmer hit a two-run single with two outs in the fifth to cut the deficit to 4-2.

The Royals also rallied with two outs in the sixth. Getz hit a double to put runners at second and third. Pinch-hitter Billy Butler was intentionally walked to load the bases. Jeremy Horst replaced Kendrick and Gordon greeted him with a bases-clearing triple to right-center that put the Royals ahead 5-4.

”We knew we didn’t swing the bats great in Chicago,” Gordon said. ”We just kind of moved on. We never lost confidence in our offense. We came in here confident.”

Getz hit his bases-clearing triple off Chad Durbin in the seventh. Brown helped him out with an ill-advised diving attempt on the liner to left. The ball fell in and rolled all the way to the warning track.

Alcides Escobar hit a solo homer off Raul Valdes to make it 10-4 in the eighth.

A sellout crowd of 45,307 at Citizens Bank Park hoped to enjoy a victory on a comfortable, 64-degree late afternoon. The pregame festivities included a mini-parade that led players into the ballpark from the street behind the stands in left-center field.

With their furry green mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, first in line, the players and coaches walked in, mingled with the crowd and high-fived fans lined up along the red carpet in the outfield.

Then the hitters gave them something to cheer at the start.

Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard lined consecutive one-out singles in the first for a 1-0 lead.

Brown hit a towering drive out to right in the second. One out later, Kratz lined one out to left for a 3-0 lead. Kendrick followed with a liner off the wall in left, barely missing his first career homer by about 2 feet.

Kendrick slowly jogged to first, admiring his drive and held up for a long single much to the amusement of Howard and his fellow starting pitchers who pointed and laughed from the dugout.

Utley doubled to left-center in the third, stole third and scored on Howard’s line-drive single to right.

Davis, acquired from Tampa Bay along with James Shields, made his first start since 2011. He made 54 relief appearances for the Rays last year after 58 starts from 2010-11.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals were still struggling at the plate. This time it didn’t matter: Jeremy Guthrie was on the mound.

The 10-year veteran struck out nine and gave up one run in six innings Thursday, and Royals snapped a two-game losing streak to start the season, beating the Chicago White Sox 3-1.

Guthrie (1-0) scattered five hits and walked one for Kansas City, which took its first lead of the season with three runs in the fifth inning and made it stick.

”Guthrie was phenomenal today,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He really executed his pitches, changing speeds, moving the ball in and out. Really did a nice job keeping them off balance.”

The Royals scored just three runs in the first two games of the season and lost both, including 1-0 in the season opener.

Greg Holland worked the ninth for his first save.

There was also a lot to like about Guthrie’s counterpart – Chicago right hander Gavin Floyd.

Floyd (0-1) gave up four hits and two runs in six innings. He walked one and struck out five.

”I thought he pitched great,” said White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham, who went 4 for 4. ”The one inning that got away from him a little bit I thought he still made good pitches and just hung a couple.”

Guthrie, meanwhile, allowed a run in the bottom of the fifth against an aggressive-swinging White Sox team that won the series’ first two games.

”Any time a team’s more aggressive you’ve got to make sure you make better quality pitches knowing they’re going to try to get that ball in play and drive it,” Guthrie said. ”So that’s kind of the case it was this whole series, they were aggressive and today was no different.”

The Royals scored three runs after the first out in the fifth. First baseman Eric Hosmer walked, advanced to third on Francoeur’s single to right on a hit-and-run and scored when center fielder Jarrod Dyson grounded out.

Francoeur advanced to second on the play and came home on Chris Getz’s single to center field and an error by Alejandro De Aza. Getz, who advanced to second base after the error, scored on Alex Gordon’s RBI single to right.

”I thought that (hit-and-run) was huge and then Getzy to follow through and drive me in it gave us a little bit of breathing room,” Francoeur said.

Yost said the outburst was encouraging.

”You know, it was good today,” he said. ”We got the hit and run, Dyson got the first run in, everybody relaxed, and boom, boom, we’ve got a three-run lead. It’s coming.”

Chicago got a run back in the bottom half. Tyler Flowers was hit by a pitch from Guthrie with two outs, advanced to third on Beckham’s second hit of the game and scored on De Aza’s single to right-center before Jeff Keppinger struck out to close the inning.

Beckham singled to right in the seventh off reliever Aaron Crow to put runners at first and second with one out. But Dyson made a running grab of De Aza’s long fly and the Royals got out of the inning when Escobar grounded to second.

Beckham got his fourth hit in the ninth, a two-out single that advanced pinch-runner Conor Gillaspie to second. But De Aza grounded to first to end the game.

Chicago had runners on first and third with just one out in the third after Beckham lined a single to right to advance Flowers. But De Aza, the leadoff batter, grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez lined a one-out double to left off Floyd in the second inning but failed to advance.

Guthrie was 5-3 in for the Royals last year following his July acquisition from Colorado. Kansas City was 10-4 in his 14 starts.

”You’ve got to tip your hat to Guthrie for what he did,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. ”He didn’t give us too many chances. When we had a chance there at first and third and he got the groundball.

Except for the struggles in the fifth, Floyd was solid. He threw 94 pitches – 66 for strikes. He was 12-10 last year, his first winning season since 2008 but fifth straight with double-digit wins.

Four Kansas City pitchers combined to strike out 11. Dayan Viciedo struck out four times and Adam Dunn struck out three.

— Associated Press —

Given all their trouble against the Royals, it’s fair to say the White Sox are enjoying this.

Adam Dunn homered and Chicago went deep four times to back a solid outing by Jake Peavy in a 5-2 victory over Kansas City on Wednesday.

Tyler Flowers, Dayan Viciedo and Alexei Ramirez also connected, and the White Sox made it two straight wins to start the season after dropping 12 of 18 to the Royals a year ago.

”I love their team,” Peavy said. ”I love their makeup. I love their manager. They have a great team. They have a great bunch of guys, and they play hard. That team is scrappy. They don’t strike out much. … It’s nice to come out (against) a team that’s had our number as a team and play well.”

The Royals, full of optimism after posting the majors’ best record in spring training, will try to avoid a season-opening sweep Thursday.

”They’re a good team,” Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. ”I don’t think they’re going to lay down.”

The White Sox have no intention of that, either. They insist they can make another run in the AL Central after finishing second to Detroit, even though they made no splashy additions while other teams in the division loaded up.

They’re off to a good start.

Peavy (1-0) allowed one earned run and four hits in six innings, striking out six and walking none. Not bad, considering he said he didn’t have his best stuff.

Even so, he managed to keep the Royals off balance on a chilly day when the game-time temperature was 43. More important, he looked about as good as he did last year, when he rebounded from all those injuries and made the All-Star team.

”I don’t wake up every day worrying about my body holding together,” Peavy said. ”But at the same time, I do a lot of preventive work to try to hold everything intact the way it is now and stay as strong as I did last year.”

Dunn had two hits and scored twice. He led off the second with his 407th home run – tying Duke Snider for 48th place on the career list – and Flowers opened the third with his second shot.

Viciedo made up for his gaffes in left field with a big swing in the fourth, hitting a two-run drive that made it 4-1. The Royals scored a run in the sixth and loaded the bases against the Chicago bullpen in the seventh, only to come away empty-handed. Ramirez got the lead back up to 5-2 with a drive leading off the bottom half off Luke Hochevar, and the White Sox hung on from there.

Peavy did his part, outpitching Ervin Santana (0-1) after Chris Sale shut down the Royals in a 1-0 victory Monday in the opener.

The three-time All-Star re-signed with Chicago after a rebound season last year and started this one on a strong note. Five relievers combined to shut down the Royals, with Addison Reed working the ninth for his second save.

Santana (0-1), a mainstay in the Angels’ rotation for eight seasons, also went six innings and gave up four runs and five hits. He struck out eight and walked one in his first start with the Royals.

”Everything was good,” Santana said. ”My off-speed was very good. My sinker was good. Fastball was good.”

Royals hitters did him no favors, going 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, and the long ball did him in.

Dunn put the White Sox ahead 1-0 with a 431-foot line drive to the seats in right-center, but the White Sox quickly gave it back.

Ramirez, the shortstop, was charged with an error even though Viciedo actually dropped Chris Getz’s pop fly in a collision with one out. Then with two out, Viciedo misplayed Alcides Escobar’s single, allowing Getz to score from first.

Flowers, who homered Monday, connected again leading off the third, and Viciedo gave them a cushion with his two-run drive in the fourth, the ball tipping a leaping Alex Gordon’s glove in left.

”I wish I could have done that over again,” Gordon said. ”I was right there in position.”

The Royals got a run off Peavy in the sixth when Gordon doubled past a diving Viciedo and scored from third on a groundout by Billy Butler, but they couldn’t come through after they loaded the bases against the White Sox bullpen in the seventh.

Donnie Veal relieved Jesse Crain with two on and one out and walked pinch hitter Miguel Tejada before retiring Gordon on a fly to shallow left. Matt Lindstrom came in and got Escobar to fly to right, ending the threat.

— Associated Press —

For all the deep breaths he took before the game, Chris Sale sure was a picture of calm once he stepped on the mound. More important for the White Sox, he was the definition of dominant.

Sale outpitched James Shields, Tyler Flowers homered and the White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 1-0 in the season opener on Monday.

The White Sox believe they’re in position to make a run at the AL Central title even though they made no splashy additions while the rest of the division loaded up. They’re off to a good start after a late fade left them three games behind Detroit a year ago.

A dominant performance by Sale and Flowers’ drive leading off the fifth against Shields were just enough to beat a team that’s trying to make a big jump after finishing with a losing record 17 of the past 18 seasons. It also gave the White Sox a rare win over the Royals, who took 12 of 18 from them a year ago.

Sale was a first-round draft pick in 2010 out of Florida Gulf Coast University, whose basketball team was the darlings of this year’s NCAA men’s tournament. He said the toughest part of Monday’s game was the wait beforehand. But he watched other games and took deep breaths, trying to clear his mind.

”I tried not to hurt myself with my own thoughts,” he said.

Sale (1-0) showed the form that made him a 17-game winner and an All-Star in his first season as a starter. On a chilly day when the game-time temperature was 44, he allowed just seven hits and struck out seven while walking one.

Sale got an assist in the seventh when second baseman Gordon Beckham dived to his right to snag Lorenzo Cain’s line drive with a runner on first, and he left to a standing ovation after Alcides Escobar’s single with two outs in the eighth.

Nate Jones came in and, after Escobar stole second, threw a wild pitch while walking Billy Butler to put runners on first and third. Matt Thornton then struck out Mike Moustakas on three pitches to end the threat, and Addison Reed worked the ninth for the save.

Sale, meanwhile, backed up the White Sox’s decision to reward him with a new five-year deal this spring and the opening day start.

”I think a lot of stuff’s been thrown at him in spring training,” manager Robin Ventura said. ”He gets the contract, he gets the opening day. There’s a lot of expectations of him, but that all comes with it.”

He said Sale has ”come along great.”

And Butler was impressed: ”He’s been pitching pretty well the last year and had another really good game out there.

Shields (0-1) was a tough-luck loser even though he gave the Royals exactly what they envisioned when they acquired him from Tampa Bay. The former All-Star lasted six innings, allowing just one run and eight hits while striking out six without a walk.

Along with the addition of Ervin Santana from the Los Angeles Angels and the re-signing of Jeremy Guthrie after he dazzled in a short stint with Kansas City last season, the Royals believe they have the arms to challenge reigning division champion Detroit and make the playoffs for the first time since the 1985 championship season.

”That’s exactly what I expect,” manager Ned Yost said. ”We get further into the year and he’d go back out. That’s how good he was throwing the ball. Early, I limit them to 100 pitches. Guys like James and Santana and Guthrie take your 100 pitches and go to work.”

Chicago finally broke through when Flowers drove a high 2-2 changeup out to left-center leading off the fifth. It was his first homer since he went deep against Kansas City last Sept. 8, and it was a promising sight for the organization. After all, one reason the White Sox let A.J. Pierzynski sign with Texas was they believed Flowers was ready to become the everyday catcher.

”If every day could be like today, it’ll be fine,” Flowers said. ”I really don’t think about it much. Hopefully, in a couple weeks or a couple months, I’ll quit getting asked all these questions about A.J. and what size shoe I wear.”

— Associated Press —