Kansas City, Mo. ? Lorenzo Cain hit a three-run homer, Nori Aoki kept up his tear at the plate and the Kansas City Royals roughed up Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale in a 6-2 victory Wednesday night that kept the pressure on Detroit in the AL Central.

Lorenzo Cain hit a three-run homer, Nori Aoki kept up his tear at the plate and the Kansas City Royals roughed up Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale in a victory Wednesday night that kept the pressure on Detroit in the AL Central.

The first-place Tigers led the Royals by 1 1/2 games at the start of the night. The Royals gained a game when Detroit lost to Minnesota.

Alcides Escobar also homered for a Royals offense that had been scuffling for weeks, and Aoki went 3 for 4 to finish with 11 hits in the series. Yordano Ventura (13-10) allowed three hits and two walks over seven innings, the lone run off him coming on a sacrifice fly.

Meanwhile, Sale (12-4) was cuffed for a season-high five earned runs on nine hits over five innings. It was arguably the three-time All-Star’s worst start since Aug. 23, 2013, when he gave up eight runs over seven innings in a loss to the Rangers.