Chicago White Sox

Davidson, Abreu Homer as White Sox Thrash Royals

Derek Holland scattered three hits while pitching into the seventh inning, Jose Abreu and Matt Davidson went deep off Ian Kennedy and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3 Thursday to split their four-game series.

Holland (3-2) exited with two outs in the seventh after giving up two runs, only one of them earned. He also struck out seven with only one walk in his latest dominant start for Chicago.

The left-hander has allowed two earned runs or fewer in his first six outings this season.

Kennedy (0-3) surrendered five runs on six hits and a walk before leaving with a strained right hamstring with one out in the fifth. The Royals said that Kennedy will be evaluated Friday to determine the severity of the injury.

Kennedy struggled from the onset, giving up a one-out single to Melky Cabrera and a 427-foot homer to Abreu in the first. Davidson added his solo shot into the fountains in left in the second.

In the fourth, Kennedy was victimized by an error, hit a batter and committed a balk before giving up back-to-back hits. He also walked a batter as the White Sox pushed two more runs across.

That was more than enough for Holland, who retired the first 10 batters he faced.

Mixing his fastball and sinker, Holland kept the punchless Royals guessing most of the afternoon, silencing a Kauffman Stadium crowd filled with kids who had turned out for "School Day at the K." He only allowed two doubles before the seventh inning, when the Royals finally managed to coax two runs across.

The White Sox had already tacked on two of their own in the seventh off the Kansas City bullpen.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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