Abreu, Engel lead White Sox to 11-3 win over Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jose Abreu had four hits, Adam Engel hit a three-run homer and the Chicago White Sox pounded out an 11-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.

Abreu, who hit for the cycle Saturday and had two home runs Sunday, drove in two and scored once while raising his average to .306. He was a homer shy of another cycle.

Engel went deep off Brandon Maurer during a six-run sixth.

Yolmer Sanchez, Yoan Moncada and Abreu, the first three White Sox hitters, combined to go 9 for 16 with six runs and four RBIs. Moncada had his first career three-hit game.

Reynaldo Lopez (1-3) gave up three runs and eight hits in six-plus innings to pick up his first victory since Sept. 29, 2016.

The loss dropped the Royals three games behind the Minnesota Twins with 19 games left for the second AL wild card.

Jason Hammel (8-11) was pulled after giving up five runs in 3 1/3 innings, his shortest start since going three innings on April 30. He walked two, including Nicky Delmonico with the bases loaded in the fourth.

The White Sox scored two runs in the first with Moncada’s triple. He scored on Abreu’s single.

Eric Hosmer singled in the Royals’ second, his ninth straight hit, matching the longest streak in the majors this season and one shy of the Royals’ record. He grounded out to third baseman Sanchez leading off the fourth to end the streak.

Brandon Moss homered to begin

the Royals’ three-run fifth. Whit Merrifield tripled home Alex Gordon with the second run and scored on Lorenzo Cain’s single, cutting the White Sox advantage to 5-3.

The White Sox have outscored the Royals and San Francisco Giants 32-5 during a three-game winning streak.

LHP Danny Duffy (elbow impingement) threw a 46-pitch, three-inning simulated game. “I felt really good,” Duffy said. “I’m anxious to get back and help this team down the stretch. I’ve never been more ready to get back on the field and get ready to go. It’s not ever going to go away until I take care of it. I’ve just got to push through until the end of the season.” If Duffy feels good the next two days, the Royals plan on starting him this weekend at Cleveland. ... Royals manager Ned Yost said RHP Ian Kennedy would be skipped a start. RANGERS 5, MARINERS 3 Delino DeShields homered after taking a speedier trip around the bases for an earlier run as the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 5-3 on Monday night in the opener of a four-game series matching teams still hoping to get one of the AL’s two wild cards. Cole Hamels (10-3) struck out seven in six innings to win for the first time in his last four starts.

DeShields reached on a one-out bunt single in the second, when he was initially called out before a replay challenge overturned the call. DeShields then raced home from first on Shin-Soo Choo’s two-run double that made it 4-1, running through a stop sign from fill-in third-base coach Jason Wood and scoring on a nifty headfirst slide. Two innings later, DeShields hit his fifth homer. Alex Claudio worked a perfect ninth to get his eighth save in 12 chances for the Rangers (7271), who got within two games of idle Minnesota for the American League’s second wild-card spot. Seattle (71-73) is 31/2 games back.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PIRATES 7, BREWERS 0 After dominating the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field over three days, the Milwaukee Brewers were rendered almost lifeless by Pittsburgh rookie Steven Brault and the reeling Pirates.

Brault and four relievers combined on a three-hitter to lift the Pirates to a 7-0 victory over Milwaukee on Monday night.

Milwaukee didn’t get a runner past first base against the Pirates and fell 2½ games behind Chicago in the NL Central after outscoring the Cubs 20-3 in a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field over the weekend.