Kansas City Royals' Ned Yost wins 1,000th game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Ned Yost has accomplished his two managerial goals.

Yost posted his 1,000th career victory as manager as the Kansas City Royals topped the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Saturday night.

Yost picked up the win in his sixth attempt as the Royals ended a five-game losing streak with him stuck on 999. Yost has a 543-542 record as manager of the Royals.

"I'm glad it's over now," Yost said. "When I started this, I don't know why, I had just two goals. One was to help a team win a world championship (the Royals won the 2015 World Series) and the other was a thousand wins. I thought if I'm good at this job, I'll around long enough to get a thousand wins.

"It was always a goal. It's not something, I worked real hard at, it just kind of came because I had great players and great general managers in Doug Melvin (Milwaukee) and Dayton Moore (Kansas City). It's just cool just to kind of accomplish it, accomplish something you set out to do."

Catcher Salvador Perez doused Yost with Gatorade during his on-the-field postgame interview.

Wade Davis struck out the side in the ninth to preserve the one-run victory, his 25th save of the season.

The White Sox trimmed the lead in the eighth inning when Avisail Garcia doubled off the third base bag against Joakim Soria to score Jose Abreu.

Royals left-hander Jason Vargas, who was making his first start since July 21, 2015 and required season-ending Tommy John surgery in August, threw 52 pitches in three innings before being replaced by Dillon Gee.

"I knew that if I had the opportunity to get out there this year that it would be icing on the cake as far as going into next season," Vargas said. "I felt really good about everything that happened up to this point. I think I would have still felt pretty good about going into next year, but being able to have the opportunity to go out there and compete is just another plus that has gone along with this rehab."

Vargas allowed a run in the first inning, which Tim Anderson began with a one-out single. Anderson was initially called out on a headfirst slide into second base on Jose Abreu's fielder's choice grounder to shortstop Alcides Escobar. After White Sox manager Robin Ventura requested a review, the call on the field was reversed after 68 seconds and Anderson was safe.

Melky Cabrera's ground single to center got Anderson home. Vargas allowed only one other base runner -- Abreu's walk with two out in the third -- after Cabrera's hit.

"Starting off with Vargy (good) to see him go three good innings," Yost said. "They scored the one run off him, but they didn't square anything up -- a ball off the end of the bat, then the little squibbler that Esky tried to cut the lead run down and bang-bang missed it and then like a three or four hopper up the middle, kept the ball down, changed speeds really well. It was really neat to see."

The Royals swiftly tied it in the bottom of the first. Jarrod Dyson led off the inning with a single to right, his ninth hit in 12 career at-bats against White Sox starter Miguel Gonzalez. Whit Merrifield pushed a perfect bunt down the third base line for a single, moving Dyson to second. Dyson and Merrifield pulled off a double steal and Kendrys Morales flied out to center fielder Adam Eaton to score Dyson.

The Royals forged ahead in the fifth, which Alcides Escobar led off with a triple to right and scored when Hunter Dozier punched a single to left. Dyson singled again and Dozier scored on Eric Hosmer's two-out single off Gonzalez, giving the Royals a 3-1 lead.

"He's fun to catch," said Kevan Smith, who singled in the fifth for his first big league hit. "He threw everything for strikes, threw everything in every situation, so he kind of makes it easy for me. But, you know, we just got into a couple of tough counts and they capitalized on it."

Gonzalez, who threw only five pitches in the seventh, left after seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits.

"I've got to stay strong, mentally and kept making pitches," Gonzalez said. "And I know this team is really aggressive, and early on I was falling behind, but then afterwards I felt better as the game went on."

NOTES: The Royals designated for assignment RHP Chien-Ming Wang, who was 6-0 with a 4.22 ERA in 38 appearances (53 1/3 innings). The move was made to make roster space for LHP Jason Vargas, who came off the 60-day disabled list and started Saturday. ... White Sox SS Tyler Saladino was not in the lineup with left calf soreness. ... Chicago DH Justin Morneau did not start for the fifth straight game because of neck discomfort. ... White Sox starters were a combined 5-2 with a 3.09 ERA in the previous 11 games entering Saturday. ... Chicago LHP Jose Quintana and Kansas City LHP Danny Duffy are the pitching probables for Sunday's contest. The Royals are 17-21 when opponents start a left-hander.