Kansas City, Mo. ? Carlos Quentin’s towering home runs kept Chicago close, then the White Sox went ahead without so much as a pitch being thrown.

Fighting back from a 5-0 deficit Wednesday night, the White Sox scored the go-ahead run on Ramon Ramirez’s eighth-inning balk to beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-6.

“He balked,” said Kansas City manager Trey Hillman. “He started and stopped. It was accurately called.”

Trailing 6-5, the White Sox got their leadoff runner on when Orlando Cabrera walked against reliever Robinson Tejeda.

Cabrera stole second and third, and after Tejeda walked Quentin, Jim Thome’s single tied the game. Plate umpire Dan Iassogna called a balk on Ramirez moments later, allowing Quentin to score the go-ahead run.

“We’ve been fighting all year,” said Quentin, Chicago’s All-Star left fielder who was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and three runs scored. “Our energy level has been good day-in and day-out. That’s one thing our coaching staff has really stressed to the team.”

Not all was well with the White Sox, though.

There appeared to be a scuffle in the dugout between Cabrera and Jermaine Dye, who was batting when Cabrera stole second and third, though nobody would say what it was about.

“A little bit of a misunderstanding,” Dye said. “When you’re together for so long, things like that happen. When all was said and done, we came up and hugged and got over it. I’m not going into what it was about. It was just a little something.”

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he had no problem with either player.

“When you’re a man, you say what you feel,” he said. “You agree to disagree and you move on. I don’t want good guys. I want winners. Good guys finish last. I want guys who go out there and bust their tails and back each other up. This is a family, and when you live with a family so long, you fight. It was just a misunderstanding.”