Kansas City, Mo. ? Manager Ned Yost was unsure what to expect from his starting pitcher.

Jarrod Dyson had two hits, scored a run and stole a base in Jason Vargas’ first start in 14 months, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Saturday night to snap a five-game losing streak.

Vargas, who was making his first start in 423 days after having Tommy John surgery on August 5, 2015, gave up a first-inning run on Melky Cabrera’s RBI single, but retired eight of the last nine batters he faced.

“He was a little better than I expected,” Yost said. “It’s been 14 months since he’s been on a major league mound and his first big league start since coming off Tommy John. I don’t know how you have expectations on anything like that. You just want to go out, feel good and get through it and come off of it healthy, on a good note. I think we accomplished all those things tonight.”

Vargas said his stuff was “very similar” to his six minor league rehab starts.

“There were a couple of times where I got behind in some counts, (but) I think that’s just part of being back out there,” Vargas said. “I felt pretty good about where I was able to throw the ball and how it went.”

Vargas was pulled after 52 pitches and three innings. Dillon Gee (7-8) replaced Vargas and held the White Sox to one run and five hits over 4 1/3 innings.

“Today is about Vargy coming back from TJ (Tommy John surgery),” Gee said. “That’s a big deal for him to come back and get a start again and come back healthy from that surgery. He did a great job. I just wanted to come in and hold it there.”

Dyson, who is 10 for 15 off White Sox starter Miguel Gonzalez (4-7), singled to lead off the first, advanced to second on Whit Merrifield’s bunt single, stole second and scored on Kendrys Morales’ sacrifice fly.

Dyson, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games, also singled in the Royals’ two-run fifth. Hunter Dozier, who was making his second major league start, and Eric Hosmer delivered run-producing singles in the inning, which Alcides Escobar opened with a triple.

“He got in a bind there,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Gonzalez’s fifth inning. “I thought he got out of some trouble. It could have been worse. I thought he pitched his way out of it and they ended up getting two.”

Avisail Garcia’s double, which struck the third base bag, scored Jose Abreu in the eighth for the final White Sox run. The White Sox went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners.

“We had opportunities,” Ventura said. “We hit the ball pretty good, got some guys on base, just couldn’t cash them in.”

Wade Davis worked a flawless ninth for his 25th save in 28 chances.