Kansas City, Mo. ? Paul Byrd went to the mound Monday night hoping it would be a career night.

But instead of earning his career-high 16th victory, he gave up 10 earned runs for the first time as the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 10-6.

Byrd (15-11) gave up four home runs, including two by rookie Joe Crede in the Royals’ seventh straight loss.

“I pitched long and hard with poor results,” Byrd said. “It’s very frustrating. The times that our team hits well, I can’t seem to pitch well. I felt a little tired in the last inning, but I feel very strong. I just haven’t been able to locate my pitches. I’ve left pitches over the middle. Eight innings and 10 hits.

“I’ve got to space those out. Every time somebody gets on, somebody hits a home run or a triple.”

Crede, who is from Westphalia, Mo., homered in the second to extend Chicago’s lead to 2-0. He then connected in the ninth to give Chicago a three-run cushion.

“I left 20 tickets for fans,” he said. “I probably had 50 or 60 people here. I told everybody else to buy them. It’s always nice to do something positive to help your team win, especially before family and friends. The first pitch was a slider out over the plate. The second was a fastball up in the zone.”

Chicago manager Jerry Manuel was impressed with his young slugger.

“His power has surprised me,” Manuel said. “I predicted that next year he would hit 15 to 20. I have to project those numbers higher, 20 to 25.”

The Royals probably were glad to have Crede’s fans in the ballpark as they played in front of the smallest crowd in more than seven years. The attendance of 9,555 was the lowest at Kauffman Stadium since July 5, 1995, when 7,511 saw the Royals play the Red Sox.

Byrd also gave up an inside-the-park home run to Joe Borchard and a home run that cleared the fence to Paul Konerko.

“I’m leaving a few balls over the middle, but I don’t think I’m throwing 10-runs bad,” Byrd said. “I’ve never done that in my life. I’ll keep looking at video and keep throwing the same pitches. I’ve always said I’m a contact guy. The next time they could go right at people and it could be a shutout.”

The Royals haven’t had anything close to a shutout recently, as they now have given up 61 runs in their last five games.

D’Angelo Jimenez added a triple and a double for the White Sox, with two runs scored and an RBI.

Dan Wright (11-12) gave up six earned runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings for the win. He walked two and struck out six.

“He was a little up and a little erratic,” Manuel said. “He had good stuff early and kind of lost it. But he held on.”

Jimenez tripled on Byrd’s first pitch and scored on Jose Valentin’s sacrifice fly.

Carlos Beltran tied it in the Royals third and matched a career high with his 24th home run, a two-run shot.

The White Sox regained the lead in fifth on Borchard’s inside-the-park homer.

Left fielder Raul Ibanez ran to the wall but couldn’t make the catch, and ball rolled away as Borchard circled the bases. It was the first inside-the-park homer for the White Sox since Chris Singleton did it against Kansas City on Sept. 29, 2000.

It was the first against Kansas City since Texas’ Mike Lamb hit one off Byrd on Aug. 31 of last season.

The White Sox were not done scoring in the fifth. Josh Paul, Jimenez and Valentin hit consecutive doubles. Jimenez scored on a wild pitch, and Valentin scored on a sacrifice fly by Frank Thomas.

Mike Sweeney hit a two-run homer in the Royals fifth. Konerko led off the sixth with his 27th home run, giving the White Sox a 7-4 lead.

The Royals drew within a run in the seventh on a two-run single by Beltran. The Royals left the tying run on third when Sweeney popped out.

The White Sox got three insurance runs in the ninth on Crede’s second home run and an RBI single by Valentin.

Notes: Sweeney, the AL’s leading hitter, went 1-for-5, dropping his average to .340. He has four home runs in his last seven games. Bernie Williams is second in the league with a .339 average. … Beltran has 16 hits in 36 at-bats (.444) in his last nine games. He’s scored 11 runs and has 10 RBIs in that span. … Thomas reached safely for the ninth straight game. He is hitting .419 (13-for-31) in those games. He has two home runs and 10 RBIs. … The Royals went without an error for the first time in eight games.