White Sox Video

Peavy's strong start

Pierzynski's RBI single

Royals Video

Betancourt's solo blast

Maier's great catch

But if Yost again shows up with bags under his eyes for his second game as Kansas City manager, it will have been because he was too excited to sleep following his smashing debut.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, conversely, might be kept awake by his team's inconsistencies. The Sox haven't been able to put consecutive wins together since the third week in April.

It's been a win-lose-win pattern in May for the White Sox, now 5-7 in the month.

Their most dependable starter in that stretch has been Jake Peavy, who goes for his third win in as many May starts. Peavy has allowed two runs in 15 very sharp innings this month, with one walk to 17 strikeouts.

If the Royals wanted to impress the new boss, they did so virtually flawlessly, and now are set up for their first three-game winning streak since last Sept. 20-22.

Their top winner takes the mound in pursuit of that uplifting development. Luke Hochevar's three wins are triple the combined total of Zack Greinke and Gil Meche.

Although Meche remained winless in Friday night's Yost unveiling, he had as much to do with the 6-1 victory as anyone else, holding Chicago down for six innings until the Royals lineup could wait out Mark Buehrle.

Yost's presence in the dugout may have been coincidental, but the Royals turned the game around on the White Sox left-hander in impressive fashion. Buehrle needed only 39 pitches to get through the first four innings in hitless fashion.

Yuniesky Betancourt took the first bite out of him with a solo homer in the sixth, then an RBI single by Jose Guillen, busting out of an 0-for-21 hole, ignited a five-run seventh.

That, by a team that had scored fewer runs in 24 of its first 35 games.

Having Buehrle take his prime stuff wall-to-wall may have been the White Sox's best hope on a night their offense was emaciated by injuries.

Guillen would like to have both Carlos Quentin (stomach virus) and Andruw Jones (stuff neck) back for Saturday night's rematch, but he'll take either.

As it was, on Friday night Omar Vizquel played in his 2,753rd career game -- but as a first-time DH. Vizquel batted No. 9, going 1-for-4 and scoring the White Sox's only run.

White Sox: Injuries force lineup changes
Mark Kotsay made his fourth start of the season in right field after Quentin had to be scratched and Jones remained out for a second straight game.

Royals: Young hurler keeps rolling
Blake Wood held Chicago hitless over the final two innings, giving him three scoreless frames in his first two Major League games.

Worth noting
Former Kansas City favorite Mark Teahen wore an 0-for-4 collar in his return to Kauffman Stadium. Teahen was dealt to Chicago in November for Josh Fields and Chris Getz.