KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Yordano Ventura kept his pitch count down, which enabled him to go nine innings for the first time in the majors.Ventura picked up his first complete-game victory, Kendrys Morales hit a three-run homer and the Kansas City Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox 8-3 Monday.The Royals have won three straight, keeping their faint playoff hopes flickering with 12 games remaining. The Royals went 14-5 against the White Sox this year.My goal today was try to get as many outs as I can as quick as I can and go deep in the game and thats what I did today, Ventura said with catching coach Pedro Grifol as his translator. Im happy with it.Ventura (11-11) gave up nine hits, struck out five and walked one. His only other complete game in the majors was a 3-2 loss July 28 at Texas.He was outstanding, Royals catcher Drew Butera said. He was efficient with his pitches. He had great movement, great life. He was really good.Ventura had allowed 10 runs, 17 hits and six walks in 11 1/3 innings in losing his previous two starts. He threw only 16 pitches in a 10-batter span to end the fifth and into the seventh.He did a phenomenal job of managing his pitch-count, Royals manager Ned Yost said. He put himself in a position with a five-run lead to have a complete-game. He got through eight with 92 pitches. He just pitched a great game.Morales homered off Carlos Rodon (7-10) in a four-run fifth. Morales homered in back-to-back games, bringing his total to 29. The last Royal to hit 30 home runs in a season was Jermaine Dye, with 33 in 2000.Paulo Orlando and Alcides Escobar homered in the second for the Royals. Eric Hosmer drove in two runs with a pair of singles, giving him 97 RBI.Billy Burns had three hits, was hit by a pitch, stole a base and scored two runs.Theyre a good ballclub, Rodon said. Guys that have been in the game for a while and just understand that, make me throw pitches and get deep in the count, and they did a really good job of that. They swing the bat well, but our guys swung the bat well, too. Some hard balls hit and some home runs, and thats baseball.Jose Abreu and Carlos Sanchez hit solo home runs for the White Sox. Todd Frazier added an RBI single and had two hits off Ventura.Hes throwing 97, 98 (mile per hour), Frazier said late in the game. Thats tough to pick up, tough to lay off, too, as well, because it looks like a strike and comes off. He had good command, basically.DUAL EJECTIONSPlate umpire Toby Basner ejected Escobar in the fifth for arguing balls and strikes. When Yost interceded, Basner thumbed him, too.TRAINERS ROOMWhite Sox: INF Tyler Saladino (sore left calf) was out of the lineup for the third consecutive game. We could play him, but I think an extra day would be best for him, White Sox manager Robin Ventura. ... DH Justin Morneau (neck discomfort) returned to the lineup after missing the previous six games.UP NEXTWhite Sox: RHP James Shields, who is 0-5 with a 9.37 ERA in his past nine starts, will start Tuesday at Philadelphia. RHP Jake Thompson will start for the Phillies.Royals: RHP Edinson Volquez, who gave up nine runs on seven hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings in a Thursday loss to Oakland, will start the series opener at Cleveland. The Indians will counter with RHP Josh Tomlin.Glenn Hubbard Jersey . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Atlanta Braves Shirts . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string. https://www.cheapbraves.com/ . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. 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They reached the Rio de Janeiro championship, guaranteeing the countrys first womens volleyball medal after a 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 15-13 victory.Serbia plays Saturday night against China, a four-set winner over the Netherlands. China needed six set points to take the opening frame on the way to a hard-fought 27-25, 23-25, 29-27, 25-23.The American coaches were scouting the thriller.Right now, this loss is deeply disappointing. It cuts deep. Its very painful, and thats OK, U.S. coach Karch Kiraly said. When you care that much, its going to. Were going to process that some, we get some time to grieve. We signed up to do difficult things with USA and were going to come back harder the next 48 hours to fight for the bronze medal.Akinradewos teammates took over after she was sidelined by an apparent left knee injury late in the opening set after beginning the match brilliantly. She tried to give it a go, but the leg didnt let her. Akinradewo will undergo tests to determine whether she might play Saturday.It was tough when Foluke went down. I think we were a little distracted there for a second because we care so much for her, captain Christa Dietzen said, briefly becoming emotional. Obviously we wanted to turn this around, for her, for everybody thats part of this program. We have a chance in the next 48 hours to do so.Akinradewo stood next to Kiraly during timeouts, shaking her head and yelling, Come on!Kiraly switched his lineup in her absence, then switched it again. Serbia kept pounding, digging out balls, leaping for blocks and serving with precision.The Americans led 12-10 in the fifth set when Karsta Lowe served into the net, then Milena Rasic answered with an ace and U.S. middle blocker Rachael Adams also netted her serve.Its amazing. Theres no words to describe really this feeling, Serbias Tijana Malesevic said. I think we need more time to be aware of what we did, but we gave our heart. We gave everything what we could, what we know, like everything -- like each player, staff, coaches.dddddddddddd We made it. This is history. We wrote history for Serbia, for volleyball federation, for the world.Lowe came through with her powerful left arm, Dietzen and Adams blocked masterfully as Kayla Banwarth provided her signature reliable passing, but the Americans (6-1) couldnt close it out with their star middle blocker down.The Americans are knocked out of title contention, and two-time defending Olympic champion Brazil was ousted in a stunning five-setter by China in the quarterfinals. That means Serbia will face a young Chinese squad led by former U.S. coach Jenny Lang Ping -- she raised her arms in the air and then sighed in relief as her players hugged her.The U.S. will take on a determined Dutch team back in the Olympics for the first time in 20 years.Both of those teams also advanced out of the preliminary pool with the U.S. and Serbia, which had lost a four-setter last week to the Americans.But the sixth-ranked Serbians have surprised the U.S. on the big stage before -- taking a five-set win a year ago at the World Cup in Japan, helping force the Americans into a second-chance qualifier at Lincoln, Nebraska, in January.It took contributions from each woman on the U.S. 12-player roster to get back into the match.Our team has a great culture and dynamic. Were here for each other, outside hitter Jordan Larson said. Thats whats going to show and thats whats going to carry us through.Now, the Americans plan to take the example from beach stars Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross, who lost in the semifinals to Brazil before bouncing back for bronze.Kiraly, the most decorated player of his generation as the only person with gold medals in beach and indoor volleyball, hurt to his core after this one. Thats how much he loves his team, the players who are here and so many who arent.The plan wont change: He knows that elusive gold is still out there to be had, one day.One thing that we would like to accomplish, and its not going to happen this month, Kiraly said. I dont know if itll happen four years from now or 52 years from now, but our job is to make an Olympic gold medal happen at some point for the history of the U.S. program. ... The fight continues. ' ' '