The Kansas City Royals (53-34) got two solo home runs in the middle innings that helped them defeat the Chicago White Sox (41-46) 4-2 in Game 1 of a day-night double-header.
The home runs came off the bats of Mike Moustakas (8) and Alex Rios (2). Moustakas's shot put the Royals ahead 2-1 in the top of the fifth, and Rios's extended the Royals' lead to 4-2 in the sixth.
In between those home runs, Chicago's Adam Eaton tied the game at 2-2 with a fifth-inning solo home run of his own (7), and Kansas City took a 3-2 lead on a ground ball double play during which Eric Hosmer scored. Hosmer led off the sixth with a double and advanced to third when Kendrys Morales singled to right.
Kansas City opened the scoring in the first on Lorenzo Cain's 20th double of the season, which drove in Alcides Escobar, who led off with a walk. Chicago's Geovany Soto homered (5) to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third.
Chris Young (W: 8-5, 3.03 ERA) pitched five innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits. Two of those hits were the home runs from Soto and Eaton. He walked four and struck out four. The White Sox never had two runners on base at the same time while Young was on the mound.
Ryan Madson, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and Greg Holland each pitched a scoreless inning with Holland (S: 20) closing it out for the save.
Chicago got men on second and third in the sixth but could not push them across. Adam LaRoche's double down the left-field line bounced into the stands, forcing Avisail Garcia to stop at third after his one-out single.
Jeff Samardzija (L: 6-5, 4.08) allowed four earned runs on seven hits in seven innings while walking three and striking out three. He also served up the home runs to Moustakas and Rios.
Game 2 begins at 8:10 p.m. EDT and pits Kansas City's Edison Volquez (8-4, 3.31) up against Chicago's John Danks (4-8, 5.30). The two teams play again both Saturday and Sunday afternoon at 2:10 p.m. EDT each day.