Royals 4, White Sox 3

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) --Zack Greinke appears to be pitching his way into the Kansas City Royals' rotation.

Greinke allowed two runs, two hits and a walk in five innings Monday, striking out three in Kansas City's 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Greinke is competing with Brian Bannister for the only remaining vacancy in the rotation.

"I thought overall it was a pretty good performance," manager Buddy Bell said. "I thought (catcher) Jason LaRue did a nice job with him after the first couple of innings. He used his off-speed stuff when he needed to. I thought he was pretty efficient with his fastball. I thought he had good command. I thought he had a pretty good idea of what he was doing."

Greinke has put together consecutive solid starts, pitching four scoreless innings against Colorado in his previous outing.

"It means a lot," Bell said. "That is what him and Bannister have to do to get in the rotation. He didn't hurt his chances by any means. I liked what I saw. He looked like he could have gone nine, too, which is a good sign."

Bell also liked the way Greinke avoided a big inning.

"There was some damage control," Bell said. "Against Milwaukee, he got some runners on and he couldn't handle it. Today they had some runners on and I thought he got through it pretty good."

Greinke said he has learned from watching Roger Clemens on television.

"When I watch him pitch, it is hard to understand why he is so dominant," Greinke said. "He's got really good stuff, but his stuff isn't really incredible. To be as dominant as he is, a lot of it is just being mentally tougher than others. Just watching that showed me a lot."

Octavio Dotel replaced Greinke in the sixth and struck out five in two scoreless innings.

Ross Gload, acquired by Kansas City in an offseason trade with the White Sox, homered in the seventh. Alex Gonzalez singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth.

White Sox starter Adam Russell held the Royals to five hits and one run over four innings, walking two and striking out four.

Brian Anderson homered in the eighth for the White Sox off left-hander Jimmy Gobble to tie the score at 3. Juan Uribe had an inside-the-park homer in the second.

Left-hander Andrew Sisco, who pitched for the Royals the past two years and was traded for Gload, allowed one run, three hits and a walk. He struck out three in 1 1-3 innings.

Notes:@ Royals INF Angel Sanchez, who has been bothered by a sore elbow, will have an MRI on Tuesday. ... Royals RHP Luke Hudson did not throw Monday because of tightness in his shoulder, but Bell said he is not expected to miss a start.