Chris Sale pitched 7 2/3 innings of shutout baseball, struck out seven and scattered seven hits and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals and James Shields 1-0. Tyler Flowers hit a solo home run on a 2-2 pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning off Shields for the only run of the game. Shields making his first start for Kansas City since being acquired from Tampa Bay struck out six and allowed eight hits in six innings of work.
Sale left the game after giving up a base hit to Alcides Escobar in the eighth-inning to a standing ovation. From there Nate Jones, Matt Thornton, and Addison Reed completed the shutout pitching the last inning and a third. The two teams will take tomorrow off and will play game two of the series with Ervin Santana taking the ball for Kansas City and Jake Peavy on the mound for the White Sox.
