Guillen homers, Hochevar throws 6 sharp innings as Royals top White Sox 7-2

Guillen, Hochevar lead Royals past White Sox 7-2

CHICAGO — Jose Guillen hit a two-run homer and Luke Hochevar pitched six sharp innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox 7-2 on Tuesday night.

Mike Aviles had three hits, including a solo homer in the ninth, and Scott Podsednik had two hits, including an RBI triple against his former for the Royals, who had 16 hits.

Hochevar (3-1) allowed just one unearned run on three hits and pitched around four walks. He rebounded after he was tagged for nine runs and 11 hits over just 2 2-3 innings Thursday in an 11-1 loss at Tampa Bay.

A.J. Pierzynski homered for the White Sox, who had their home four-game winning streak snapped. Overall, the White Sox have lost five of its last eight games and are already seven games behind the first-place Twins in the AL Central.

Gavin Floyd (1-3) continued to struggle, allowing six runs and a career-high 13 hits in 6 1-3 innings. In his last start at Texas on Thursday, it appeared Floyd was about to turn it around after a strong seven-inning victory over the Rangers, but Floyd was in trouble from the start Tuesday.

David DeJesus led off the game with a double and scored on Billy Butler’s double-play grounder.

Jason Kendall led off the second inning with a walk and Aviles and Mitch Maier followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Chris Getz followed with a bloop RBI single to left, but the Royals left the bases full as Floyd retired the next three batters in order.

The Royals had the bases loaded with no outs in the third, but failed to score. Aviles hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Paul Konerko, who stepped on the bag and then threw home to Pierzynski, who tagged out Jose Guillen. Maier flied out to center to end the inning. The Royals left six on base in the first three innings.

Hochevar got some insurance in the seventh. Getz led off with a single, one out later, Podsednik tripled and scored on Butler’s single. Guillen followed with his eighth homer of the season to put the Royals up 6-1. Alberto Callaspo chased Floyd with a single.

In the third inning, Juan Pierre bunted for a single and Gordon Beckham followed with a walk. Pierre and Beckham pulled off a double steal, and Pierre ended up scoring on Kendall’s errant throw to third.

Pierzynski’s home run, his first of the season, came in the seventh.

NOTES: Ozzie Guillen managed his 1,000th game for the White Sox. … Before the game, the Royals placed OF Rick Ankiel on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right quad. The Royals plan on calling up 1B Kila Ka’aihue from Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday. He hit .304 with seven homers in 23 games with Omaha.