Royals 6, White Sox 2: Lorenzo Cain hit a three-run homer and Norichika Aoki reached base four times on three hits and a walk as Kansas City defeated visiting Chicago.

Cain had three hits and Alcides Escobar homered among two hits and scored twice for the Royals, who won two of three in the series. Kansas City moved within a half-game of Detroit in the American League Central and is now two games ahead of Seattle for the AL’s second wild card.

Yordano Ventura (13-10) outpitched Chicago’s Chris Sale and gave up one run and three hits while striking out seven in seven innings. Sale (12-4) was rocked for a season-worst five earned runs and allowed nine hits in five innings.

Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the third on Adam Eaton’s sacrifice fly before the Royals responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Escobar and Aoki had one-out singles before Cain drilled a 0-2 pitch over the wall in left and Salvador Perez stroked an RBI single later in the inning to give Kansas City a 4-1 edge.

Escobar homered in the fourth for the Royals’ final run off Sale. Kansas City made it 6-1 in the seventh when Chicago shortstop Alexei Ramirez overthrew first on a possible double-play ball, allowing Alex Gordon to score.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Aoki set a club record with 11 hits in a three-game series, breaking the mark of 10 shared by Willie Wilson (1980) and George Brett (1982). … Ramirez had an RBI single in the eighth and had two of Chicago’s five hits. … Royals INF Christian Colon (finger) was placed on the 15-day disabled list.