Dallas Keuchel threw five shutout innings before leaving with lower back stiffness as the Chicago White Sox defeated the host Kansas City Royals 8-2 on Sunday. It was the eighth time in nine starts that Keuchel (6-2) allowed two earned runs or fewer.

The left-hander allowed two hits and no walks and threw just 49 pitches before he suffered the injury while warming up for the sixth inning.

The injury detracted from the White Sox (26-15) winning their 16th game in the last 20. They maintained their half-game lead over the Cleveland Indians. The Minnesota Twins are 1 1/2 games out.

The White Sox swept the four-game series and finished the season series 9-1 against the Royals. The last time the White Sox swept a four-game series against the Royals was in July 1997.

Edwin Encarnacion had a home run and four RBIs for Chicago.

Jose Abreu stroked a single in the seventh inning, extended his hitting streak to 20 games, the longest in the majors this season.

Matt Harvey (0-3) took the loss as the "opener" for the Royals (14-27). He allowed one run on four hits in 2 1/3 innings. He had allowed at least three earned runs in each of his previous three starts, none of which lasted longer than three innings.

Yolmer Sanchez led off the third inning with a double. He scored on a single by Yasmani Grandal, which marked the end of the day for Harvey. The White Sox got another run in the sixth. Luis Robert walked with two outs and scored on a double by Nomar Mazara.

After the White Sox extended the lead to 5-0 on Encarnacion's three-run homer in the seventh, Edward Olivares hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning. Olivares was acquired at the trade deadline from the San Diego Padres for reliever Trevor Rosenthal.

The White Sox scored three more runs in the eighth, including Encarnacion's fourth RBI.

Kansas City's Whit Merrifield went 0-for-4 and now has just one hit in his last 30 at-bats, dropping his average to .248.

--Field Level Media