KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It is probably too late for the Chicago White Sox, but they are back on a hot streak.
Adam Eaton homered and scored three times, and the White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 7-5 on Sunday for their fourth straight win.
“Yeah, it’s good to win in general, but Kansas City’s a high-quality baseball team,” Eaton said. “It’s good to take three from a very, very good team.”
The White Sox had lost their first six games at Kauffman Stadium before sweeping the Royals.
“It shows kind of our inconsistency this year,” Eaton said. “This last month of the season, we’ve got to empty whatever’s left in the tank and I hope this three-game series can kind of foresee what we can do for the rest of the month.”
David Robertson worked a flawless ninth to log his 29th save and has retired 25 straight batters.
“We’re the streakiest team I’ve ever been on in my life,” Robertson said. “We go from winning five or six to losing five or six. I don’t know why we do that. It just seems to happen. Hopefully we can continue to win. There’s still a chance for us to sneak in there.”
Eaton collected three more hits and is batting .517 (15 for 29) in his last seven games.
Erik Johnson (1-0) pitched six innings of three-run ball in his first major league appearance of the season, allowing three solo homers.
“Since he’s been back, even from spring training, we’re seeing a confident guy, even from the solos,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “When you have a lead you can get away with some solo homers. You’d rather do that than sit there and walk everybody. I thought he was fantastic.”
The AL-leading Royals were swept at home for the first time this season. Johnny Cueto (2-5) was pulled after three innings in his fourth straight loss.
Kansas City pulled within one with two runs in the seventh. But Eaton doubled and scored on Jose Abreu’s sacrifice fly in the ninth, and David Robertson got three outs for his 29th save.
Johnson, who was the International League most valuable pitcher after going 11-8 with a 2.37 ERA with Triple-A Charlotte, allowed five hits, including homers to Salvador Perez, Jarrod Dyson and Mike Moustakas.
Cueto, who was acquired in a July 26 trade with Cincinnati, was charged with five runs and seven hits. It was his shortest outing since June 28, 2013, when he left after one inning at Texas and went on the disabled list the next day.
Cueto is 0-4 with a 9.45 ERA during his losing streak, yielding 21 earned runs and 37 hits in 20 innings.
“I’m not frustrated at all, but I’m a little bit disappointed I haven’t been able to help the team the way I was supposed to help this club,” Cueto said with coach Pedro Grifol acting as his interpreter.
The White Sox scored three runs before making an out. Jose Abreu singled in Eaton, and Avisail Garcia drove in two runs with a base hit.
Chicago tacked on two more runs in the third on Adam LaRoche’s RBI single and Rob Brantly’s sacrifice fly.
Eaton added his 12th homer with one out in the sixth. The speedy leadoff hitter had six career homers in 211 games coming into the year.
Perez’s second-inning homer was his team-leading 19th. Dyson and Moustakas went deep in the sixth.
Eaton is dealing with shoulder discomfort. “He’s had something nagging him here and there, but it’s nothing to keep him out of the lineup,” Ventura said. He acknowledged trainer Herm Schneider is doing some “maintenance” work on Eaton.
Mike Olt, whom the Sox claimed off waivers from the Cubs on Saturday, started at third base and went 2-for-4. After striking out in his first two at-bats, Olt singled in his next two.
