Afternoon Box Score: Sox Edge Greinke, Royals

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Aug 19, 2009 9:00PM

The Sox had little trouble with Cy Young candidate Zack Greinke today, tagging the youngster for four runs en route to a 4-2 series clinching victory over Kansas City this afternoon. Paul Konerko doubled in a run for the Pale Hose in the first for an early lead, but after that, all the runs would come on solo homers for both teams. For the Sox, Gordon Beckham (third inning), Carlos Quentin (fourth inning), and Alex Rios (seventh inning) all went deep; Kansas City got solo shots from David DeJesus (fourth) and Mark Teahan (eight). On the mound, the Sox got an excellent performance from Jose Contreras, who shook off a six game winless streak by throwing seven superb innings in which he allowed only three hits and one run (the DeJesus homer) and struck out eight. Thornton pitched an inning and a third for the hold and reliever Bobby Jenks notched his 26th save of the year by retiring the last two batters. The Sox, who are off tomorrow before a weekend series against Baltimore, are still just 2.5 games back of Detroit in the AL Central.