Recap: Chicago WSox vs. Kansas City

Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Alexei Ramirez, Adam Dunn and Tyler Flowers each hit solo homers as the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2, in the middle installment of a three-game series.

Dayan Viciedo added a two-run homer for the White Sox, who saw starter Jake Peavy (1-0) last six innings and strike out six batters while allowing two runs -- one earned -- on four hits.

Peavy finished with a 11-12 record with 194 strikeouts over 32 starts last season and was rewarded with his third All-Star campaign of his career.

"We've got guys one through nine who can hit the ball out of the park," Dunn said. "I guess it doesn't really matter how you score runs, only that you score them."

Billy Butler had an RBI and Alex Gordon hit a double and scored a run for the Royals, who have dropped the first two games of this series. Starter Ervin Santana (0-1) picked up the loss after allowing four runs on five hits -- including three homers -- but did strike out eight batters in defeat.

The 29-year-old righty, who went 9-13 with a disappointing 5.16 earned run average over 30 starts for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last season, was acquired this past offseason to help bolster an improving Royals pitching staff. Santana had spent his entire eight-year major league career with the Angels.

Dunn led off the second inning with a solo home run to right field that gave the home team an early 1-0 lead.

The Royals, though, responded in the third, as a single from Alcides Escobar turned into a run after Viciedo bobbled the grounder in left field and Chris Getz scored from first base to make it a 1-1 contest.

Flowers, who provided the only run with a solo homer in Monday's victory over Kansas City, added his second homer of the year -- another solo shot -- over the right-field fence on an 0-0 pitch to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.

Viciedo made up for the error with a two-out, two-run homer in the fourth inning. Gordon made things interesting when he attempted to bring back the long fly by climbing up the wall in left. The ball cleared, though, before going off the tip of Gordon's glove and giving Chicago a 4-1 advantage.

"If I could've just done it over again, I wish I could," Gordon said, "because I was right there in position, ready to make the play."

Kansas City closed the gap in the sixth, as Gordon led off the inning with a double and moved to third on an Escobar groundout. Butler then plated Gordon on a fielder's choice to the shortstop to make it 4-2.

The Royals loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but Chicago relievers Donnie Veal and Matt Lindstrom produced consecutive flyouts to end the inning and Kansas City's last real threat.

Ramirez added some insurance for the White Sox in the bottom of the seventh, leading off Chicago's half of the frame with a solo shot.