Sox stay hot, blast Royals

Mark Buehrle’s on a nice roll. The are on a tear.A.J. Pierzynski’s two homers led an 8-2 win over the Kansas City Royals — the Sox sixth straight victory and 23rd in 28 games.Buehrle took a line drive off his right (non-throwing) wrist on Scott Podsednik’s leadoff single in the first, but was not seriously injured. The left-hander allowed six hits in seven-plus innings and was replaced by Sergio Santos after walking David DeJesus to start the eighth.But it was a scary moment for the White Sox, especially after right-hander Jake Peavy revealed Friday he would have season-ending surgery next Wednesday on a detached muscle behind his right shoulder.Buehrle (8-7) is 5-1 in his last six starts with a 2.23 ERA as the pitching continues to be the major reason for the team’s surge.His performance followed a two-hit shutout by John Danks against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. The White Sox (47-38) are a season-high nine games over .500 and remained a half-game behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central.Kansas City had its three-game winning streak snapped and lost for the third time in 11 games. The Royals were coming off a sweep of the Mariners in Seattle.Pierzynski, who entered the game in a 1-for-17 slide, had a solo homer in the fourth and a three-run shot in the eighth, giving him six homers this season. Andruw Jones, who had been 2 for 23, had three hits, including a two-run single in the second off the left field fence.Yuniesky Betancourt hit a two-run homer in the ninth for Kansas City off newcomer Jeffrey Marquez.Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin began the second with singles and, after Pierzynski sacrificed, Jones hit his two-run single.Pierzynski’s first homer finished Kansas City starter Bruce Chen (5-3) after 3 1/3 innings, his shortest start of the season. Slowed by a bout with strep throat, Chen gave up six hits and three runs.Gordon Beckham had a leadoff double in the fifth off reliever Kanekoa Texeira, Juan Pierre followed with a bunt single and Beckham scored on Alexei Ramirez’s double-play grounder to make it 4-0.Konerko hit a two-out RBI double in the eighth off Victor Marte. After a walk to Quentin, Pierzynski connected again.

NOTES—Buehrle is 21-11 against the Royals and 1-2 this season…..Royals OF Jose Guillen, who strained a quadriceps muscle Tuesday, was out of the lineup…..Buehrle threw a season-high 114 pitches.