Royals drop another one to the White Sox

(AP) – All things considered, the Kansas City Royals will take what they got from Ervin Santana. They’d like their offense to pitch in, though.

Too many home runs by the White Sox and not enough clutch hits added up to another loss for the Royals.

Adam Dunn homered and Chicago went deep four times to back a solid outing by Jake Peavy in a 5-2 victory over Kansas City on Wednesday.

Tyler Flowers, Dayan Viciedo and Alexei Ramirez also connected, and the White Sox made it two straight wins to start the season after dropping 12 of 18 to the Royals a year ago.

“We’re still just getting our feet wet together,” Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas said. “This is game number two of the year. We went up against Chris Sale and Jake Peavy. Those are two pretty tough guys to go up against.”

The Royals, full of optimism after posting the majors’ best record in spring training, will try to avoid a season-opening sweep Thursday.

Peavy (1-0) allowed one earned run and four hits in six innings, striking out six and walking none while outpitching Santana (0-1).

Dunn had two hits and scored twice. He led off the second with his 407th home run – tying Duke Snider for 48th place on the career list – and Flowers opened the third with his second shot.

Viciedo made up for his gaffes in left field with a big swing in the fourth, hitting a two-run drive that made it 4-1. The Royals scored a run in the sixth and loaded the bases against the Chicago bullpen in the seventh, only to come away empty-handed. Ramirez got the lead back up to 5-2 with a drive leading off the bottom half off Luke Hochevar, and the White Sox hung on from there.

Peavy did his part after Chris Sale shut down the Royals in a 1-0 victory Monday in the opener.

The three-time All-Star re-signed with Chicago after a rebound season last year and started this one on a strong note. Five relievers combined to shut down the Royals, with Addison Reed working the ninth for his second save.

Santana (0-1), a mainstay in the Angels’ rotation for eight seasons, also went six innings and gave up four runs and five hits. He struck out eight and walked one in his first start with the Royals.

“Everything was good,” Santana said. “My off-speed was very good. My sinker was good. Fastball was good.”

Royals hitters did him no favors, going 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, and the long ball did him in. Manager Ned Yost had no complaints about his effort, though.

“I thought he threw the ball real well,” Yost said. “I thought he commanded the ball very well. I thought he changed speeds real effectively. All three pitches he gave up for homers were pretty good pitches.”

The lack of a big hit, though? That, he said, will change “real quick.”

Dunn put the White Sox ahead 1-0 with a 431-foot line drive to the seats in right-center, but the White Sox quickly gave it back.

Ramirez, the shortstop, was charged with an error even though Viciedo actually dropped Chris Getz’s pop fly in a collision with one out. Then with two out, Viciedo misplayed Alcides Escobar’s single, allowing Getz to score from first.

Flowers, who homered Monday, connected again leading off the third, and Viciedo gave them a cushion with his two-run drive in the fourth, the ball tipping a leaping Alex Gordon’s glove in left.

“I wish I could have done that over again,” Gordon said. “I was right there in position.”

The Royals got a run off Peavy in the sixth when Gordon doubled past a diving Viciedo and scored from third on a groundout by Billy Butler, but they couldn’t come through after they loaded the bases against the White Sox bullpen in the seventh.

Donnie Veal relieved Jesse Crain with two on and one out and walked pinch hitter Miguel Tejada before retiring Gordon on a fly to shallow left. Matt Lindstrom came in and got Escobar to fly to right, ending the threat.

“I love their team,” Peavy said. “I love their makeup. I love their manager. They have a great team. They have a great bunch of guys, and they play hard. That team is scrappy. They don’t strike out much. … It’s nice to come out (against) a team that’s had our number as a team and play well.”

NOTES: Paul Konerko tied Frank Thomas for third on the White Sox hits list with 2,136 when he doubled in the sixth. … The Royals are 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and have left 14 on base through two games.