Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer to back a solid outing by Edinson Volquez in his Kansas City debut, as the Royals completed a season-opening sweep of the Chicago White Sox with a 4-1 win on Thursday.
Volquez (1-0) gave up a run on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts over eight innings. Greg Holland tossed a spotless ninth to earn his second save.
Lorenzo Cain and Kendrys Morales each knocked in a run for the Royals, who are off to their first 3-0 start since 2008.
"If each man does their own individual job and picks each other up, we're going to be successful," Royals manager Ned Yost said.
Chicago's John Danks (0-1) surrendered four runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings to suffer his first loss in 17 career starts against Kansas City.
The White Sox have started 0-3 for the first time in 11 years.
Kansas City manufactured a run in the first inning. Alcides Escobar led off with a double, advanced on a Mike Moustakas sacrifice bunt and scored on a groundout by Cain.
Paulo Orlando, who was making his major league debut, tripled off Danks to begin the fifth. He was stranded at third base, however, as center fielder Adam Eaton made a spectacular catch to rob Mike Moustakas and end the inning.
The Royals were able to extend their lead with three runs in the sixth. Cain led off with a double and scored on a one-out double by Morales. After Alex Rios grounded out, Perez drove a Danks offering over the wall in left field.
Volquez, a free-agent signing in the offseason, ran into trouble in the seventh. He hit Adam LaRoche with two outs and then walked Avisail Garcia. Alexei Ramirez followed with a soft liner to left to plate LaRoche, but Volquez retired Conor Gillaspie on a fly ball to left to avoid further damage.
"It's not the way you want to start out the season, but...we have plenty of time to figure it out and get things going," LaRoche said.
Game Notes
Orlando became the third Brazilian-born player to play in a major league game ... Danks entered the game 7-0 with a 2.43 ERA in his career against Kansas City.
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