KANSAS CITY, Mo. -Mark Buehrle won his seventh straight decision as the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 9-6 Tuesday night and closed within three games of the AL Central leader.

Paul Konerko, Joe Crede, Tony Graffanino and Magglio Ordonez homered for the White Sox, who tied a season high with 16 hits in the opener of the three-game series. Ordonez, Graffanino, Crede and Paul Konerko each had three hits.

Kansas City has led the AL Central since July 1. Chicago hasn’t been this close to first place since July 2.

Buehrle (9-10) has had a down-and-up season. He went 0-9 with a 6.86 ERA in 11 starts from April 20 to June 11 and is 7-0 with a 2.88 ERA over nine starts since then. He allowed three runs and nine hits over 6 1-3 innings.

Tom Gordon got three outs for his sixth save in 10 chances.

Darrell May (5-5) gave up a season-high seven runs and 10 hits in 6 1-3 innings. He had been 5-0 in six starts since losing to St. Louis on June 21.

Kansas City led 2-0 before Konerko and Crede put the White Sox ahead when they homered on consecutive pitches with two outs in the fourth.

Ordonez, who has seven consecutive multihit games, hit a two-run homer in the fifth for a 5-2 lead.

Graffanino hit a solo homer, Ordonez had an RBI double and Carlos Lee had a sacrifice fly a three-run seventh that made it 8-2.

Desi Relaford hit an RBI single in the bottom half that chased Buehrle, but Graffanino homered for a 9-3 lead in the eighth.

Angel Berroa, who had three hits, hit a three-run homer in the bottom half, his third home run in six games.

Notes: The White Sox acquired LHP Scott Schoeneweis from the Anaheim Angels in a five-player trade. Chicago sent RHP Gary Glover and minor league pitchers Scott Dunn and Tim Bittner to the Angels. The White Sox also acquired right-handed reliever Doug Nickle, who was assigned to their Triple-A team in Charlotte. … The Royals designated INF Gookie Dawkins for assignment. He appeared in just three games after being promoted on July 18 from Triple-A Omaha. …The White Sox have 28 homers and 90 runs in their past 13 games. … May tied a Kansas City record by allowing four homers, becoming the first Royals pitcher to do it since Kris Wilson on July 22 against Oakland.

AP-ES-07-29-03 2306EDT