KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jose Quintana threw a gem and Alexei Ramirez delivered the big blast and made the key defensive play.

Ramirez and Geovany Soto homered and left-hander Quintana pitched seven strong innings as the Chicago White Sox topped the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Saturday night for their third straight victory.

Ramirez ripped a three-run blast in the fourth inning and catcher Soto connected in the seventh for his ninth home run of the season.

Quintana (8-10) allowed seven hits in seven shutout innings. He walked none and struck out five.

"I felt like Q was hitting his spots all night and more than that he's just a competitor," White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham said. "He competes and that's what you want out there as a pitcher. Playing behind him, he's locked in and he's going to compete as well as he possibly can."

Danny Duffy (7-7), who served up both home runs, took the loss. He was excused after 103 pitches and seven innings, allowing four runs, seven hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.

"I thought he threw a pretty darn good ballgame outside of one pitch," Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Left fielder Alex Gordon's infield single, his third hit of the game, in the eighth scored center fielder Lorenzo Cain for the lone Kansas City run. All three hits that inning did not leave the infield.

Pinch hitter Mike Moustakas scorched one up the middle, but Ramirez snagged it to start an inning-ending double play.

"Not a lot of balls hit hard," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "They placed them perfectly. Then the one they hit hard, Lexi makes a nice play on. You have to have defense to stay with these guys.

"They play great defense. You need something to go your way and the one that was hit hard, fortunately, was at somebody close enough that he could make a play on it."

"One foot the other way and it's a different game, it changes the complexion of the game. Then again, one foot the other way and some of those harder, and maybe we wouldn't be in that situation.

"The game's strange and luckily we came out on top."

Center fielder Adam Eaton and designated hitter Melky Cabrera stroked RBI singles in the ninth as the White Sox increased their advantage.

Ramirez homered in the fourth after first baseman Jose Abreu walked for the second time and right fielder Avisail Garcia's infield single, which was deflected by Duffy.

Ramirez, who had four hits Friday, turned on a 1-2 Duffy pitch and drove it out to left-center, putting the White Sox ahead 3-0.

"I just didn't execute the slider," Duffy said.

The Royals got two runners to third base in the second and third but failed to score.

Morales doubled into the left-field corner to lead off the second and then stopped at third on Gordon's single. Morales started home on third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert's grounder to Abreu but was trapped in a rundown and tagged out by third baseman Tyler Saladino.

In the third, Escobar doubled with one out and advanced to third on Cain's groundout. Escobar was stranded there when first baseman Eric Hosmer flied out to right.

Gordon doubled with one out in the second but advanced no farther.

NOTES: The White Sox acquired 3B Mike Olt off waivers from the Chicago Cubs. Olt has a .158 batting average in 111 career games with the Cubs and Texas Rangers. He was in the Cubs' Opening Day lineup but suffered a broken right wrist in his sixth game. ... Royals 3B Mike Moustakas was not in the lineup for the fifth straight game with a hamstring issue, but manager Ned Yost said he would likely start Sunday. ... Royals LF Alex Gordon has not committed an error since Aug. 2, 2014. ... White Sox RHP Erik Johnson and Royals RHP Johnny Cueto are the probables for the Sunday series finale.