White Sox Extend Lead

After learning that the Kansas City Royals had rallied to beat the Cleveland Indians, Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko took care of their own work.

Buehrle pitched a four-hitter and Konerko homered for the Chicago White Sox, who defeated the Minnesota Twins, 4-1, on Sunday to push their American League Central lead back to 2 1/2 games with a week left.

“We’ve kind of turned it around a little bit,” Konerko said. “We know it’s in the driver’s seat and it’s there for the taking as long as we just do our job.”

Ahead in the AL Central by 15 games on Aug. 1, the White Sox reduced their magic number to five -- thanks to their victory and the Royals’ ninth-inning win over the second-place Indians.

Buehrle’s performance followed three strong starting efforts by Brandon McCarthy (a no-decision in a loss), Jose Contreras and Freddy Garcia as the White Sox ran their winning streak to three games.

Before a crowd of 30,402 in their last regular-season home game -- both the cross-town Cubs and Bears were home on the same day -- the White Sox waited out a rain delay to get their 94th victory.

Buehrle (16-8) is just 6-5 since the All-Star break but retired his first nine batters before Jason Tyner singled in the fourth. The left-hander struck out six and walked none.