KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Nathan Karns was at his best, which put the Chicago White Sox bats at their worst.

Karns and two Kansas City relievers combined on a two-hitter as the Kansas City Royals topped the White Sox 6-1 on Wednesday night.

Melky Cabrera's first-inning, two-out single was the lone White Sox hit until Jose Abreu homered with two out in the ninth.

Karns struck out four White Sox in the sixth. With two out, Yolmer Sanchez fanned on a wild pitch, but reached first. He stole second base and Cabrera walked. Abreu went down swinging to end the inning.

Karns became the first big league pitcher to strike out four in an inning this season. The last Royals pitcher to achieve that was Kevin Appier, Sept. 3, 1996, at Toronto.

"Now I can say I've done it," Karns said.

Karns (1-2), who was acquired in a Jan. 6 trade from Seattle for Jarrod Dyson, picked up his first victory since June 25.

"He was fantastic," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He had everything going. He just didn't make mistakes. He stayed locked in the whole game. He maintained his focus the whole game."

He walked one and struck out seven, throwing 62 of his 95 pitches for strikes to lower his ERA to 4.97.

"That is a confidence builder for me moving forward," Karns said. "To have their best hitter (Abreu) up, and grind through the at-bat and put him away. That was big.

"My command was good from the start. I was able to stay in the zone and get ahead, and then expand the zone with the curveball. It's just one of those days where everything was working."

After Karns departed, Peter Moylan threw a spotless eighth. Matt Strahm gave up the homer to Abreu in the ninth.

White Sox right-hander Mike Pelfrey (0-2) matched Karns with zeroes on the scoreboard until the sixth, when the Royals scored three times.

Whit Merrifield's single with one out started it. He scored on Mike Moustakas' double to right-center. Lorenzo Cain's run-producing triple to right-center ended Pelfrey's night.

"Moose was a 1-0 split over the middle and 3-1 to Cain was down the middle," Pelfrey said. "That's what happens. This is the big leagues. You leave balls over the middle and guys make you pay for them -- and obviously they did. I got what I deserved for all of those."

He was replaced by left-hander Dan Jennings, who gave up a sacrifice fly to Eric Hosmer that center fielder Leury Garcia tracked down at the wall.

Pelfrey's final line was three runs on five hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings with one walk and one strikeout.

Jennings yielded two additional runs in the seventh with Alcides Escobar's double down the left-field line, scoring Jorge Bonifacio. Merrifield's sacrifice fly scored Brandon Moss with the final run of the inning.

Alex Gordon's two-out, eighth-inning double off Chris Beck plated Hosmer for the last run.

"We didn't do a whole lot offensively throughout the ballgame," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "It's a combination of two things. Pelfrey did a nice job of keeping us in the game, giving us a chance, honestly.

"I thought Karns did a nice job. Just tip your cap to him. He attacked the zone. He used his breaking ball effectively. He kept us off balance. He did a nice job of attacking the hitters. He needed to keep them in the ballgame and then they just kind of opened it up."

Kansas City (9-17) has won two out of three in May after ending April on a nine-game slide.

NOTES: Royals OF Jorge Soler, who is on the disabled list with an oblique strain, went 2-for-5 with a home run in a rehab game Wednesday for Triple-A Omaha. He is hitting .343 with three consecutive multi-hit games in 10 rehab contests. ... The White Sox have scored 57 runs over the past 10 games. ... White Sox LHP Derek Holland and Royals RHP Ian Kennedy are the Thursday probables for the four-game series finale.