KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko simply scoffed when he was asked to summarize in a paragraph Monday nights wild 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals. "I dont know if a paragraph is enough," he said. Well, first came the five-run lead that the Royals established in the first inning. Then a frantic comeback by Chicago, capped by Konerkos two-run homer. And finally, clutch pitching by relievers Scott Downs and Jake Petricka to save the series-opening win. All in a nice, tidy paragraph. "We got behind big early, like a lot of games here in the past," Konerko said. "But guys started taking pride in their at-bats and we started to chip away." Alexei Ramirez homered and drove in four runs, and Dayan Viciedo went deep before Konerko -- starting in place of injured slugger Jose Abreu -- hit his go-ahead homer in the fifth. Zach Putnam (2-0) worked two shutout innings in relief of Scott Carroll, and Ronald Belisario also threw two scoreless innings before Downs and Petricka bailed out Matt Lindstrom. Lindstrom, normally the White Sox closer, gave up a leadoff single to Nori Aoki in the ninth, then appeared to step awkwardly fielding a sacrifice bunt by Alcides Escobar that resulted in an error. Downs entered and struck out Eric Hosmer, and then Petricka picked off pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson at second base before getting Billy Butler on a groundout for his first save. "The bullpen was great. They just continue to shine," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura, who was still awaiting word after the game on the severity of Lindstroms right ankle injury. "It didnt look good," he said. Jason Vargas (4-2) squandered the rare five-run lead the Royals pop-gun offence gave him. He allowed all seven White Sox runs in 4 2-3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. "I dont get too mad about a lot of things, but given a five-run lead in the first inning and coughing it up halfway through the fifth inning -- thats not good enough to get it done," he said. Carroll, who grew up just north of Kauffman Stadium in Liberty, had a rude homecoming for the White Sox. He allowed the first five batters he faced to reach base, failed to get an out on his first 30 pitches and trailed 5-0 by the second inning. "I was making good pitches," he said, "and they were just finding holes." The White Sox got three runs back in the third, when Ramirez hit a 2-2 pitch for his sixth homer, matching his total from last year. They got another back in the fourth, when Viciedo sent a 1-2 pitch over the wall to make it 5-4. Kansas City scraped out a run in the bottom half on Hosmers RBI single, but the White Sox completed their comeback during a messy fifth inning that ended with Vargas on the bench. It began with a single by Adam Eaton and another by Gordon Beckham, who was thrown out trying to reach second. Ramirez made it 6-5 with a groundout, but apparently thought he was safe as he was tagged sliding past the bag. Replays showed he missed the base by about 2 feet. It turned out to be a moot point. Adam Dunn walked moments later, and Konerko followed with Chicagos third homer in three innings, a two-run shot that gave the White Sox the lead. That was it for Vargas, who had been on a roll coming into the game. He won his previous two starts and held high-powered Colorado to two runs in a 3-2 victory his last time out. "Its just a tough one," Butler said. "We had that big first and then we tacked on a run and Konerko hits a home run to put them ahead. You feel like at that point, thats not going to win the game, that there is going to be more scoring. Give their bullpen credit, they came in and did a great job." NOTES: Abreu had an MRI that revealed no structural damage. Ventura characterized it as "good news." ... Royals LHP Bruce Chen (bulging disk) and White Sox LHP Chris Sale (left flexor muscle strain) plan to throw bullpen sessions Tuesday. ... Royals C Salvador Perez left in the eighth inning with a jammed right hand. Hes expected to miss a couple days. ... RHP Yordano Ventura starts for Kansas City on Tuesday night. RHP Andre Rienzo pitches for Chicago. Hector Moreno Jersey .Y. - Urijah Faber walked out on a Madison Square Garden stage in a Wes Welker jersey, the UFCs fun nod to that other "super" show this weekend. Andres Guardado Jersey . Ronaldo failed to connect on an ample number of opportunities at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. But Karim Benzema and Jese Rodriguez scored in each half for Madrid to come out of the first leg with the firm advantage. http://www.mexiconationalshop.us/Javier-...-Jersey-Soccer/. -- So much for concern that running back Marshawn Lynch would be absent from the Seattle Seahawks minicamp. Jose de Jesus Corona Jersey . The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week. Jonathan dos Santos Jersey . 1 overall pick in the draft by the Houston Texans, is recovering from sports hernia surgery.VANCOUVER, BC – With 6:52 seconds remaining in Thursday’s game in which the Vancouver Canucks were clinging to a 3-2 lead, Jannik Hansen got whistled for a questionable interference call after he got tangled up with San Jose’s Adam Burish. Considering the ice already seemed titled in the Sharks favour given the way they had stormed the Canucks net from the opening face-off, it seemed like the Hansen penalty would likely be the break San Jose needed to tie the game. That, however, wasn’t the case. As it has been through the first 14 games of the season, the Canucks penalty kill once again went about its business. Rising to the challenge in a pivotal moment, the Canucks managed to successfully run off the two minutes of short-handed time and the frantic five minutes that followed, and somehow escaped the Shark Tank with a one-goal victory. Despite giving up a power play goal to Logan Couture in the second period, the Canucks finished the night three for four on the penalty kill, pushing their recent run of success to 20 of the last 22 times they’ve been shorthanded. Overall, they sit sixth in the National Hockey League killing penalties with an efficiency rate of 87.3%. That’s up four percent from their final position a year ago when they started strongly on the penalty kill then, as with so many other facets of their game, faded badly in the second half of the season. The Canucks have needed to be strong on the penalty kill in the early going this season as only three teams in the league have been short-handed more than the 55 times they’ve been sent to the penalty box. Goaltending plays a huge role in any successful penalty kill and Ryan Miller has been spectacular in that regard. Including Thursday night, he has been beaten only four times while shorthanded. Chris Tanev (3:12) and Alex Edler (3:07) lead the way as the only Canucks skaters to average over three minutes of short-handed time per game, with Dan Hamhuis (2:39), Brad Richardson (2:29), Chris Higgins (2:10), Kevin Bieksa (2:05) and Nick Bonino (2:02) all over the two-minute mark.dddddddddddd “It’s kind of a mindset,” Richardson said of successfully killing penalties. “I do a lot of it and it’s something I do take a lot of pride in. The specialty teams are a huge part of the game and we’ve taken a look at the stats and the more times we win the special teams battles we win the games. Definitely it’s a huge part of our success and every time you get out there you’re trying to focus on keeping the puck out of your net.’ In crunch time on Thursday night, the Canucks were able to make that happen to preserve their 10th victory of the young season. The challenge – and it will be a big one -- will be to keep the penalty kill sharp the remainder of the season. But right now, given the learning curve the Canucks are dealing with trying to implement new head coach Willie Desjardins’s systems in all areas of the ice, it appears the penalty killers are catching on quickly. “To me, there’s maybe a tiny bit of structure change but most of penalty killing is attitude and wanting to outwork the power play,” Richardson said about the changes Desjardins has made while playing a man or two short. “There might be some subtleties on how you fore-check or how you line up when they come at you, but I think most of it comes down to hard work.” Without question, the Canucks penalty killers are putting in the effort and that hard work has been rewarded. One look at Vancouvers lofty perch in the overall standings a month into the new season is proof of that. ' ' '