Jeremy Guthrie finally proved his worth to the KC Royals, as he helped them to a series victory in Chicago. On Wednesday night, the Royals won 2-1.

Jeremy Guthrie via Keith Allison/Flickr

The first-place White Sox were shutout for eight innings by Guthrie. He threw harder than he has for most of the season and kept the White Sox hitters off balance. He scattered five hits and no walks while striking out six. Guthrie threw 104 pitches, 74 for strikes.

He retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

The only offense Guthrie received was two solo homeruns. Mike Moustakas hit his 17th of the season in the 2nd inning and Salvador Perez hit his 6th in the 4th inning. Both came off White Sox starter Jose Quintana.

Then things got interesting in the 9th inning with Greg Holland on the mound. Adam Dunn collected a one out double. After striking out Kevin Youkilis, he allowed an RBI single to AJ Pierzynski to cut the lead to 2-1.

That brought up Alexei Ramirez and three sliders later, Holland got him to line out to short to end the game.

Next up on the Royals roadtrip is Baltimore for four games at Camden Yards. I’ll be at the game on Saturday, as Luis Mendoza faces Chris Tillman. That game could be a gem or a bullpen game.

*For more on the White Sox, check out South Side Hit Girl.