KANSAS CITY -- Billy Butler seems back in the swing of things.Butler's bases-loaded sacrifice fly snapped a tie in the eighth inning and sparked the Royals to a 3-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night in front of 17,576 at Kauffman Stadium.The Royals salvaged the last game of the three-game series and finished their homestand with a 5-4 record.After left-handed starter Jose Quintana got one out in the Royals' eighth, Nori Aoki dropped a bunt single down the third-base line. Alcides Escobar followed with a double to left-center, and Eric Hosmer was intentionally walked to load the bases. 
That prompted a pitching change, right-hander Jake Petricka coming in to face the right-handed Butler. He cracked a line drive at right fielder Dayan Viciedo, giving Aoki plenty of time to score the tiebreaking run after the catch.Alex Gordon drew a walk to reload the bases, and Petricka also walked Danny Valencia to force in another run. Lorenzo Cain rolled out to end the inning.The White Sox scored first against Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie in the second inning. Adam Dunn walked and was forced at second by Alexei Ramirez, who then stole second base. Paul Konerko singled to left to get Ramirez home.The Royals tied the score, 1-1, in the third with a flurry of three singles off Quintana. The first was by Pedro Ciriaco with one out. He took second as Brett Hayes bounced out to first and scored on Aoki's single to left.A bases-loaded threat in the fourth was squelched. Singles by Butler, Valencia and Cain filled 'em up with one out, but Ciriaco tapped back to Quintana, who started a home-to-first double play.After Gordon Beckham doubled in the White Sox third, Guthrie got stingy. Through the rest of his seven innings, he didn't allow another hit. A walk in the fourth and a hit batter in the seventh and that was it with not a runner reaching second base.Wade Davis took over in the eighth for Guthrie, who gave up just three hits and one run but would go without a decision and without a victory since his second start on April 9. Guthrie threw 100 pitches including a 60-mph floater that Adam Eaton swung at and missed to strike out in the fifth.Davis worked a perfect eighth with two strikeouts. That gave him a stretch of 10 scoreless innings in his last nine outings with 20 strikeouts.Closer Greg Holland came for the ninth and, after one out, Viciedo singled and Dunn walked, both replaced by pinch-runners. But Holland got Ramirez to rap into a double play for his 13th save.Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
That prompted a pitching change, right-hander Jake Petricka coming in to face the right-handed Butler. He cracked a line drive at right fielder Dayan Viciedo, giving Aoki plenty of time to score the tiebreaking run after the catch.Alex Gordon drew a walk to reload the bases, and Petricka also walked Danny Valencia to force in another run. Lorenzo Cain rolled out to end the inning.The White Sox scored first against Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie in the second inning. Adam Dunn walked and was forced at second by Alexei Ramirez, who then stole second base. Paul Konerko singled to left to get Ramirez home.The Royals tied the score, 1-1, in the third with a flurry of three singles off Quintana. The first was by Pedro Ciriaco with one out. He took second as Brett Hayes bounced out to first and scored on Aoki's single to left.A bases-loaded threat in the fourth was squelched. Singles by Butler, Valencia and Cain filled 'em up with one out, but Ciriaco tapped back to Quintana, who started a home-to-first double play.After Gordon Beckham doubled in the White Sox third, Guthrie got stingy. Through the rest of his seven innings, he didn't allow another hit. A walk in the fourth and a hit batter in the seventh and that was it with not a runner reaching second base.Wade Davis took over in the eighth for Guthrie, who gave up just three hits and one run but would go without a decision and without a victory since his second start on April 9. Guthrie threw 100 pitches including a 60-mph floater that Adam Eaton swung at and missed to strike out in the fifth.Davis worked a perfect eighth with two strikeouts. That gave him a stretch of 10 scoreless innings in his last nine outings with 20 strikeouts.Closer Greg Holland came for the ninth and, after one out, Viciedo singled and Dunn walked, both replaced by pinch-runners. But Holland got Ramirez to rap into a double play for his 13th save.Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
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