US Baseball Pro

The Chicago White Sox dropped out of first place for the first time since May 16, but they didn’t go down without a fight.

There was a bench-clearing brawl in the fifth inning and five ejections total in Chicago’s 14-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. Mike Aviles went 4-for-4 with a home run and Zack Greinke pitched well into the seventh inning before he was among those sent to the clubhouse.

Royals catcher Miguel Olivo was hit in the wrist by a pitch from D.J. Carrasco and charged the mound to start the brawl. Olivo pulled up as if he was ready to punch Carrasco, a former Royals pitcher, when White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski grabbed him from behind. Olivo instead hit Pierzynski in the head, and by then both dugouts and bullpens had rushed the field.

Olivo, Carrasco and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen were ejected when order was restored.

“In that situation, I had to believe he was trying to hit me even with the bases loaded,” Olivo said. “We were leading by six runs. They come inside hard three times. That is the team that has hit me three times already. It seemed so obvious to me.”