Derek Holland scattered three hits while pitching into the seventh inning, Jose Abreu and Matt Davidson went deep off Ian Kennedy and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3 Thursday to split their four-game series.

Holland (3-2) exited with two outs in the seventh after giving up two runs, only one of them earned. He also struck out seven with only one walk in his latest dominant start for Chicago.

The left-hander has allowed two earned runs or fewer in his first six outings this season.

Kennedy (0-3) surrendered five runs on six hits and a walk before leaving with a strained right hamstring with one out in the fifth. The Royals said that Kennedy will be evaluated Friday to determine the severity of the injury.

Kennedy struggled from the onset, giving up a one-out single to Melky Cabrera and a 427-foot homer to Abreu in the first. Davidson added his solo shot into the fountains in left in the second.