Glen Sparkman pitched a five-hitter, Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier both had three hits including a home run, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White sox 11-0 Tuesday night.

Sparkman (3-5) finished with a career-high eight strikeouts and one walk in the Royals' first complete-game shutout since June 2, 2017, when Jason Vargas beat Cleveland 4-0.

Kansas City improved to 4-1 since the All-Star break and dropped the White Sox to 0-5.

Merrifield, hitting .379 (22 for 58) in a 14-game hitting streak, raced to an inside-the-park homer down the right-field line in the fourth inning after Cam Gallagher doubled. Plate umpire Tom Hallion initially called Merrifield out on the play at home, but it was overturned after a quick replay review.

That made the score 6-0 and gave Merrifield the 100th inside-the-park homer in Royals history.

Dozier hit a two-run, 447-foot homer to left field in the eighth inning to cap a four-run inning and finish the scoring.

Chicago starter Dylan Cease (1-1) gave up six runs - four earned - and eight hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

Ivan Nova (4-8, 5.60 ERA) will make his 20th start of the season.

Danny Duffy (3-5, 4.64 ERA) will make his first start since last Friday night when he left in the third inning after being bruised on the pitching hand by a line drive.