KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yermín Mercedes had two hits in his first 15 May at-bats entering Sunday.
The Chicago White Sox designated hitter collected two big hits and three RBIs in his first two at-bats Sunday, leading the Sox to a 9-3 victory against the Kansas City Royals in front of 12,102 at Kauffman Stadium.
Mercedes went 2-for-5 with a double, a triple and three RBIs, while José Abreu also had two hits and three RBIs as the Sox completed a sweep of the three-game series.
Sox starter Lucas Giolito allowed one run on four hits in five innings to earn his first victory since April 6. Giolito (2-3) struck out two and walked two in his 93-pitch outing.
Giolito allowed a run in the first, but the Sox responded with three in the second.
Mercedes hit a ball to right-center that skipped away from Michael A. Taylor. Abreu scored from first to tie the game at 1 while Mercedes raced to third for the triple.
Mercedes scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Leury García. Andrew Vaughn, who had walked, took second on the play and scored on a single to right by Danny Mendick for a 3-1 lead.
Mercedes drove in two in the third with a double to left, making it 5-1.
Royals starter Mike Minor allowed five runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
Giolito allowed hits to the first two batters but just two more for the remainder of his outing.
Abreu knocked in two with a single in the seventh and one more with a double in the ninth.
García had two RBIs for the American League Central-leading Sox (19-13), who begin a three-game series Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field.
