CHICAGO _ The Chicago White Sox set a franchise record for home runs in a month Saturday, but the Kansas City Royals supplied the bulk of the power, hitting four homers in a 9-6 victory at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Two of the blasts came off Zack Burdi during a five-run seventh inning. Ryan McBroom hit a solo homer to tie the game at 3. The Royals took the lead on a Ryan O'Hearn RBI single. Maikel Franco followed with a three-run blast.
The Sox (20-13) saw their three-game winning streak end and lost for just the second time in 12 games, dropping them a game behind the Cleveland Indians for first place in the American League Central.
Sox shortstop Tim Anderson matched a career high with four hits. Third baseman Yoan Moncada left after suffering a left leg injury while sliding into second in the ninth; he will be reevaluated later Saturday.
The Sox made history in the defeat: Edwin Encarnacion's two-run blast in the fourth was their 52nd home run in August, a franchise record for a single month. The previous high of 51 came in August 2001 and was matched in July 2003.
Encarnacion's home run, his sixth of the season, gave the Sox a 3-1 lead.
The Sox had to rely on their bullpen after starter Dylan Cease exited with one out in the fifth. Cease allowed just one hit, a solo homer to Alex Gordon in the second, but he couldn't find consistency with his command. Cease struck out five and walked six.
O'Hearn hit a solo homer off Jimmy Cordero to bring the Royals within 3-2 in the sixth. Four of the Royals' five runs in the seventh came with two outs.
The Royals added two runs in the eighth to extend the lead to 9-3. The nine runs were the most the Sox have allowed since a 14-2 loss to the Twins on July 26.
