TUCSON, ARIZ. ? Jim Thome hit his first two homers of the spring in his first two at-bats to help the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 9-7, on Sunday.

Thome homered on the first two pitches he saw and finished the game 3-for-4, flying out to the warning track in left field the only time he didn’t reach base.

“It’s about time,” Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. “You know, we’ve waited almost a month-and-a-half to see that.”

Chicago starter Hideo Nomo continued to struggle on the mound, allowing three earned runs, including two home runs, in three innings. He came into the day with a 6.75 earned-run average in four innings.

“If Nomo throws strikes, I believe he can still get people out,” Guillen said. “It’s hard to make any decisions, or say anything, when you only see a guy for six or seven innings .”

Esteban German tagged Nomo for a solo shot in the first. Over his last eight at-bats, German has five hits a stolen base and three RBIs for the Royals.

The White Sox answered with back-to-back home runs from Thome – a two-run shot- and Jermaine Dye off Royals non-roster invitee Kyle Snyder in the bottom of the first.

Benji Gil led off the second with a home run, and Aaron Guiel evened the score at 3 in the third with an RBI single.

Thome hit the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the third over the right-field fence to put Chicago back on top, 4-3. He also singled and scored in the fifth, driven home by an A.J. Pierzynski base hit, making it 6-4.

Tadahito Iguchi added an RBI single in the sixth, and Joe Crede had a run-scoring, ground-rule double in the seventh for a 9-4 Chicago lead.

The Royals scored three times in the eighth off Brandon McCarthy for the final margin.

Nomo signed a minor-league contract with the White Sox on March 6 after spending 2005 with Tampa Bay. He went 5-8 with a 7.24 ERA for the Devil Rays last year.