Eloy Jimenez went 3-for-3 with a double and four RBIs, Jose Abreu and Gavin Sheets homered and the host Chicago White Sox routed the Kansas City Royals 9-2 on Tuesday night.
Jimenez stretched his season-best hitting streak to eight games while notching his fourth multi-hit game during that stretch. The White Sox outhit the Royals 14-7, with Andrew Vaughn collecting three hits and Tim Anderson, Abreu and Josh Harrison each adding two apiece.
Chicago's Lucas Giolito (7-6) picked up his first win in three starts, scattering two runs and five hits in five innings with three walks and seven strikeouts.
The White Sox built a three-run cushion in the first inning, doing damage early in counts against Royals right-hander Brad Keller.
One batter after Vaughn tripled on the first pitch, Jimenez hit a first-pitch single to open the scoring. Abreu followed with an RBI single of his own before Yoan Moncada walked and AJ Pollock capped the rally with a run-scoring single.
Jimenez added a two-run double in the fourth and had to settle for a sacrifice fly in the sixth when he narrowly missed a grand slam. The next batter, Abreu, connected for a two-run homer against Keller (5-12), his second long ball in three games.
Giolito rebounded from a laborious third inning to earn his first victory since July 13. After cruising through the first two innings, Giolito walked three and allowed two runs in a 41-pitch third before striking out Michael Taylor to strand the bases loaded.
Salvador Perez and Hunter Dozier drove in the Kansas City runs. Perez finished with two hits for the Royals, who had three doubles.
Keller allowed eight runs and 13 hits in 5 2/3 innings with a walk and three strikeouts.
Kansas City employed a two-man bench after trading second baseman Whit Merrifield and reserve catcher Cam Gallagher earlier Tuesday.
Left-handed reliever Jake Diekman, acquired by the White Sox on Monday in a trade with the Boston Red Sox, pitched a perfect sixth with two strikeouts in his Chicago debut.
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