Royals beat Sox again

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Zack Greinke allowed one run in seven innings, and Matt Stairs homered twice in the Kansas City Royals' 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night in a game that was delayed 24 minutes by a power outage in the ninth inning.

The teams were just about to start the top of the ninth when the Kauffman Stadium lights brightened momentarily before going out in two-thirds of the stadium. The scoreboard and videoboard also lost power, which returned moments later before going out again.

After about 13 minutes, the game was ready to resume and Royals reliever D.J. Carrasco was in his windup set to throw a pitch to Paul Konerko when power went out yet again before returning about 11 minutes later.

The Royals said the outages at the ballpark and surrounding areas were due to a problem with a transformer outside the stadium.

Greinke (4-8) allowed just three hits for his second straight win after winning just two of his first 10 decisions. He struck out six and walked none.

Carrasco struck out Konerko before Jose Valentin hit a solo homer to make it 6-2. Ben Davis and pinch-hitter Joe Borchard singled and Willie Harris walked to load the bases.

Nate Field came in and struck out Aaron Rowand before giving up a bloop RBI single to Timo Perez. Field then got Carlos Lee to pop out to end the game for his third save in four opportunities.

Jon Garland (7-8) gave up six runs on seven hits in seven innings for Chicago, which lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

The struggling White Sox, shut out on two hits by Brian Anderson on Wednesday night, remained six games behind AL Central-leading Minnesota, which lost to Anaheim 8-3 earlier Thursday.

Greinke and Garland both were sharp at the start. Garland walked leadoff hitter David DeJesus in the first, then retired the next seven in a row. He didn't give up a hit until Ruben Gotay's one-out double in the third.

Greinke was even better. His only baserunners in the first 4 2-3 innings were on two errors by shortstop Angel Berroa.

Stairs broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with a solo shot off Garland. After fouling off three pitches, Stairs hit a 1-2 pitch 392 feet just over the wall in right-center.

Greinke gave up his first hit on blooper by Joe Crede with two outs in the fifth.

Stairs capped a five-run fifth with a three-run blast -- his 15th homer.

Berroa and John Buck led off with singles, and after Gotay fouled out, DeJesus singled past the glove of Paul Konerko at first, scoring Berroa. Joe Randa walked and, one out later, Stairs hit a three-run shot to left-center. It was his first multihomer game since June 18 in Philadelphia -- and the 11th of his career.

Greinke gave up a leadoff homer to Rowand in the sixth that DeJesus leaped for, but the ball just eluded him in left-center. It broke a 14-inning scoreless streak for Chicago.