KANSAS CITY -- Alexei Ramirez broke a scoreless tie in the seventh with an infield single, and Chris Sale did the rest in a 5-1 victory over the Royals on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.This tremendous pitching performance by the White Sox ace, just barely besting Royals ace James Shields, ended the club's three-game losing streak and prevented the Royals from claiming the home sweep. 
Sale couldn't have been surprised when he looked at the gigantic Kauffman scoreboard in center in the seventh inning and saw a 0 under the runs column. In his last 42 innings on the mound against the Royals, covering parts of six starts total into the seventh inning on Sunday, the White Sox had given him one total run of support courtesy of a Tyler Flowers homer on Opening Day in 2013.Of course, the Royals probably weren't stunned to see their run total at zero in going against one of the game's top pitchers. The White Sox left-hander allowed four hits over eight innings and 111 pitches, with two of them coming in the third when the Royals had their only runner reach third.There were six strikeouts from Sale, one walk and one message pitch coming in the sixth. Jose Abreu, the White Sox marquee offensive force, was hit by a Shields pitch in the top of the frame, coming two innings after he inadvertently stepped on first baseman Eric Hosmer's foot trying to beat out a grounder to shortstop Alcides Escobar.On a 2-0 pitch to Omar Infante in the the sixth, Sale came well inside to earn warnings for both benches from home-plate umpire Greg Gibson. The White Sox also had their first replay challenge in the sixth on a Hosmer fielder's choice grounder back to the mound. The ruling was that Hosmer beat the relay to first, and the call did not change after going to the video replay.Shields worked seven innings and 102 pitches, yielding the one run on five hits, while fanning six. Conor Gillaspie, who doubled twice, ripped a double down the right-field line with one out in the seventh and moved to third on Avisail Garcia's topper back to Shields. Ramirez followed with a ground ball that Escobar only was able to knock down to bring home the run.Scott Merkin / MLB.com
Sale couldn't have been surprised when he looked at the gigantic Kauffman scoreboard in center in the seventh inning and saw a 0 under the runs column. In his last 42 innings on the mound against the Royals, covering parts of six starts total into the seventh inning on Sunday, the White Sox had given him one total run of support courtesy of a Tyler Flowers homer on Opening Day in 2013.Of course, the Royals probably weren't stunned to see their run total at zero in going against one of the game's top pitchers. The White Sox left-hander allowed four hits over eight innings and 111 pitches, with two of them coming in the third when the Royals had their only runner reach third.There were six strikeouts from Sale, one walk and one message pitch coming in the sixth. Jose Abreu, the White Sox marquee offensive force, was hit by a Shields pitch in the top of the frame, coming two innings after he inadvertently stepped on first baseman Eric Hosmer's foot trying to beat out a grounder to shortstop Alcides Escobar.On a 2-0 pitch to Omar Infante in the the sixth, Sale came well inside to earn warnings for both benches from home-plate umpire Greg Gibson. The White Sox also had their first replay challenge in the sixth on a Hosmer fielder's choice grounder back to the mound. The ruling was that Hosmer beat the relay to first, and the call did not change after going to the video replay.Shields worked seven innings and 102 pitches, yielding the one run on five hits, while fanning six. Conor Gillaspie, who doubled twice, ripped a double down the right-field line with one out in the seventh and moved to third on Avisail Garcia's topper back to Shields. Ramirez followed with a ground ball that Escobar only was able to knock down to bring home the run.Scott Merkin / MLB.com
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