White Sox bats contained, spoiling Gonzalez’s start

CHICAGO — Lorenzo Cain homered and five Royals pitchers combined to limit the White Sox to seven hits during a 2-1 Kansas City victory on Saturday afternoon before 27,631 at U.S. Cellular Field. The White Sox have lost eight of their last 10 games and slipped to 1-4 on this 10-game homestand. The Royals have a 5-1 mark in their last six games.

Danny Duffy hurled 4 1/3 scoreless innings, but was on a pitch count and exited when his afternoon total reached 63. He was followed to the mound by Peter Moylan, Brian Flynn, Joakim Soria and Wade Davis. The White Sox finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.

“It’s a lot more fun to win than it is to lose,” Duffy said. “I think we’ve found something. Our identity is just grinding out at-bats and trying to do everything we can to just get the ball to [Kelvin] Herrera, Soria and Wade.”

Miguel Gonzalez made his best start as a member of the White Sox, yielding two runs on six hits in six innings. He struck out eight and didn’t issue a walk after struggling with his control his last time out in New York. Eric Hosmer drove in the Royals’ first run with a first-inning sacrifice fly, and Cain went deep leading off the sixth.

“Strike one and try not to do too much and walk guys. That’s really huge on me,” said Gonzalez, who is 0-6 in 12 starts since his last win on July 25, 2015, with the Orioles. “Staying tall and staying closed, and that’s what we did tonight. It was a little short … but we battled out there, hitters weren’t giving up any at-bats and that’s what it’s all about.”

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDSturdy bridge: In only his third Major League appearance this season, Moylan held the White Sox scoreless over 1 2/3 innings and helped bridge the gap between Duffy and the dominant back end of the Royals’ bullpen. Moylan gave up hits to Melky Cabrera and Brett Lawrie in the sixth, but got Austin Jackson to ground out to third to end the …

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