Butler, Guillen homer, Royals beat White Sox 7-6

[July 01, 2010]  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Billy Butler and Jose Guillen homered and Zack Greinke survived a five-run eighth inning Wednesday night, leading the Kansas City Royals past the Chicago White Sox 7-6.

Guillen also made a great catch of Mark Kotsay's leadoff drive in the ninth against Joakim Soria, banging into the right-field wall and falling to the ground but keeping the ball in his glove.

Greinke (4-8) won for the third time in four starts. He sailed into the eighth with a 7-1 lead, but a pinch-hit, bases-loaded triple by Brent Lillibridge keyed Chicago's comeback.

Soria relieved Greinke to begin the ninth and closed for his 20th save in 22 opportunities.

Butler's 422-foot solo shot in the first stopped Jake Peavy's scoreless string at 21 2-3 consecutive innings, the longest active streak in the majors.

Butler added an RBI single and Guillen hit a three-run shot in a four-run seventh as the Royals took two out of three from the White Sox. Chicago, which had had won six straight series during a 16-3 surge, has lost three of four since an 11-game winning streak.

Omar Vizquel's one-out triple in the fourth nudged the 21-year veteran past Luis Aparicio for second on all-time among shortstops with 2,675 hits. Alex Rios followed with an RBI single that tied it 1.

Peavy (7-6) was charged with three runs on seven hits in six innings, with two walks and five strikeouts. The loss ended a three-game winning personal winning streak for the veteran right-hander.

Greinke ran into trouble in the eighth when four straight singles made it 7-2. The triple by Lillibridge and an RBI grounder by Alex Rios trimmed the lead to a run. Greinke gave 10 hits, with no walks and three strikeouts.

Butler, raising his lifetime stats against Peavy to 4 for 9 with three home runs, drove a 3-2 pitch over the fence. Alberto Callaspo and Yuniesky Betancourt had RBIs in the sixth inning off Peavy.

In the seventh, Butler's RBI single was followed by Guillen's 409-foot shot, two days after his career-best 21-game hitting streak had been stopped.

NOTES: KC outfielder David DeJesus, batting a team-best .331 but 0 for 11 against Peavy, got the night off. ... Umpire Alfonso Marquez, who left Monday night's game with shortness of breath and heat stress and was treated at a hospital, worked home plate. Marquez also sat out Tuesday night. ... Reliever Erick Threets threw out Callaspo from a sitting position after fielding his hard grounder behind his back. ... Greinke became the 12th Royal to pitch 1,000 innings.

[Associated Press; By DOUG TUCKER]

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