Chen, Royals blank ChiSox

10:11 PM, Sep 19, 2012   |    comments
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Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Bruce Chen tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings of five-hit ball and the Kansas City Royals blanked the Chicago White Sox, 3-0, in the second test of a three-game series Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium.

Chen (11-12) struck out four while walking three before Kelvin Herrera recorded 1 1/3 shutout innings in relief. Greg Holland worked around a two-out double in the ninth to nail down his 14th save of the season.

Alex Gordon clubbed a two-run double and Billy Butler added a sacrifice fly for the Royals, who had lost four of their last five coming in.

Chris Sale (17-7) was pegged with the loss after giving up all three runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts over 6 2/3 frames.

Alejandro De Aza registered four of the nine hits for Chicago, which snapped a five-game winning streak and saw its lead atop the AL Central shrink to two games over the Detroit Tigers, who downed Oakland earlier on Wednesday.

The Sports Network