CHICAGO (AP) — Tim Anderson says he isn’t sure what he did to rile up the opposing pitcher or get ejected from the game.

But he’s certain of this much: He’s not changing his ways.

And if flipping a bat to celebrate a towering home run offends the other team, so be it.

“It’s all confusing,” he said. “I’m the one that ended up in the locker room, and I was the one that got hit by a pitch.”

The fiercely energetic Anderson spiked his bat following a home run and Kansas City’s Brad Keller responded by drilling him with a fastball in his next at-bat, setting off a benches-clearing fracas in the Royals’ 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.

Anderson tossed his bat toward the White Sox dugout following his two-run drive in the fourth inning. Keller hit him in the buttocks with his first pitch leading off the sixth.

Anderson, the AL’s leading hitter, was restrained by Royals catcher Martin Maldonado but kept jawing with Keller on the way to first base. The dugouts and bullpens emptied, though no punches appeared to be thrown. White Sox manager Rick Renteria and Royals bench coach Dale Sveum shoved each other, and the usually mild-mannered Renteria was particularly animated.

There were four ejections — Anderson, Keller, Renteria and Sveum.

Though Keller insisted he wasn’t trying to hit anyone, Kansas City’s Hunter Dozier said Anderson should have expected retaliation.

“And once you get hit, just deal with it and go to first. That’s my take on it,” said Dozier, who hit a tiebreaking homer in the 10th.

Anderson has often talked about encouraging players to express themselves, something Major League Baseball has tried to embrace with its “Let the Kids Play” marketing campaign. But not everybody in the game sees it the same way.

“I’m going to continue to be me and keep having fun,” Anderson said. “Our fans, they pay their hard earned money to come to the ballpark to see a show so why don’t I give them one.”

The 25-year-old Anderson and the Royals have mixed it up before.

In April 2018, Anderson shouted after a home run against Kansas City. Later in the game, he was playing shortstop when Royals star catcher Salvador Perez reached second base. Words were exchanged and the benches cleared.

When the tempers cooled, Perez and Anderson shook hands. Perez said Anderson had hollered a few weeks earlier when he homered twice on opening day.

Anderson also has a history with crew chief Joe West, who he called “terrible” after getting tossed from a game against the crosstown Cubs in September.

West had little to say Wednesday, telling a White Sox spokesman: “Because of the language that was used on the field, the umpires declined comment.”

Renteria insisted Anderson “clearly” wasn’t showing up the Royals.

“Get him out. You want him to not do that? Get him out,” Renteria said.

He also called his flare-up with Sveum a “misunderstanding” in the heat of the moment with players and coaches slow to clear the field.

“He just got excited and said, ‘Get your team back, get your team in the dugout,'” Sveum said.

That angered Royals manager Ned Yost, who said, “We’ve got no issues but I’m not going to allow anybody to yell at my team.”

DOZIER GOES DEEP

Dozier connected leading off the 10th against Nate Jones (0-1). His drive to left on a 2-0 fastball made a winner of Wily Peralta (2-1), who worked two innings.

Scott Barlow pitched in the 10th for his first career save, getting Daniel Palka on a game-ending grounder after walking Leury Garcia. Keller gave up two runs and four hits. And the Royals picked up their first win in six road games this season.

Palka singled batting for Yoan Moncada in the seventh to break an 0-for-32 skid to start the season and got optioned to Triple-A after the game.

White Sox starter Lucas Giolito left with two out in the third because of tightness in his left groin.

Giolito — 4-0 in eight starts against Kansas City — seemed to feel discomfort throwing a 1-1 pitch to Alex Gordon. He stretched his leg and took a few warmup tosses before heading to the dugout and was to be re-evaluated.

Giolito did not allow a run or hit in 2 2/3 innings. The 24-year-old right-hander struck out five, walked one and hit a batter.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Maldonado was in the lineup after being scratched Tuesday because of an illness.

White Sox: Moncada had a headache but no concussion after being lifted for precautionary reasons in the seventh. He was shaken up stealing second in the fifth inning, when Maldonado’s throw hit his helmet as he was diving. … The White Sox have no timetable for OF Jon Jay (strained right hip) going on a rehab assignment. Renteria said he is “just scratching the surface now of increasing some of his activities” after being placed on the 10-day injured list during spring training.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Homer Bailey (1-1, 5.29) tries to win his second straight start when the Royals open a four-game series at the New York Yankees. RHP Domingo Germán (3-0, 1.38) pitches for the Yankees.

White Sox: RHP Iván Nova (0-2, 5.28) tries for his first win with the White Sox as Chicago opens a four-game series at Detroit. The veteran took the loss at New York on Saturday despite holding the Yankees to one run over six-plus innings. RHP Tyson Ross (1-2, 3.50) starts for the Tigers.

CHICAGO (AP) – Yoan Moncada is not looking back at his struggles in the past or forward to the promise of his future.

The 23-year-old switch-hitter said he is having too much fun in the present.

Moncada hit a pair of solo shots for his first multihomer game and Leury Garcia added a two-run drive to power the Chicago White Sox past the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Tuesday night.

After struggling to consistently produce last year in his first full major league season amid huge expectations, Moncada is off to a fast start with a .333 batting average, five homers and 16 RBIs.

“Last year was last year; it’s in the past,” he said through a translator. “I learned and now I’m just enjoying this moment.

“Let’s just wait and see what happens in a month or two. So far, the results have been there.”

Yonder Alonso also homered and went 4 for 4 as the White Sox won for the fourth time in five games.

Reynaldo Lopez (1-2) allowed one run and five hits in six innings to rebound from a poor start to his season. The 25-year-old right-hander had permitted 18 earned runs in 13 1/3 innings over his first three games and gave up eight runs on 10 hits in his last outing against Tampa Bay.

“I think he was just attacking the strike zone a lot better this outing,” Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. “I think he just concentrated on driving through and hitting his spots and executing, and I think he did a really nice job.”

Four relievers worked the final three innings for Chicago. Alex Colome pitched the ninth in a non-save situation.

Daniel Palka, who led the White Sox with 27 homers as a rookie last season, went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and is hitless in 32 at-bats this year. He is 0 for 34 dating to last season, the longest current skid for a major league position player.

Lucas Duda homered for the Royals, who are 0-5 on the road.

Kansas City starter Jorge Lopez (0-2) had a career-high 10 strikeouts but gave up three homers and allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings.

“There are probably three balls that they did damage on, but outside of that, I thought he threw the ball extremely well,” manager Ned Yost said.

Duda’s homer leading off the second gave the Royals a 1-0 lead. Moncada tied it with a two-out shot in the third.

Jorge Lopez escaped a jam in the fourth by getting Tim Anderson – who began the day leading the majors with a .453 batting average – to hit into a 6-4-3 double play, but the right-hander wasn’t as fortunate in the fifth.

Garcia broke the tie with a two-run homer to right-center and Moncada followed with his second solo shot to make it 4-1.

“You have to be really careful because he’s going to get you at some point if you make a mistake,” Lopez said of Moncada.

Alonso capped the scoring with a solo drive in the eighth off reliever Jake Newberry. Alonso entered batting .152 and raised his average to .220.

DEFENSE

Moncada shifted from second base to third this season and also is off to a strong start with the glove. He started a 5-4-3 double play in the fourth and was in the middle of a 6-5-3 double play as part of a shift in the sixth.

“He told me he was the best third baseman in Cuba,” Renteria said, “and I’m starting to believe it.”

SEEING DOUBLE

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in the majors both starting pitchers had the last name of Lopez. The previous matchup of starters with the same last name was on Aug. 12, 2017, when JC Ramirez and the Angels faced Erasmo Ramirez and the Mariners.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: C Martin Maldonado was scratched from the original lineup because of illness. “He was going to take it easy and try to play, but no sense pushing it,” Yost said. “I was going to give him tomorrow off, but he’ll probably play tomorrow.”

UP NEXT

Kansas City RHP Brad Keller (2-1, 2.45 ERA) and Chicago RHP Lucas Giolito (2-1, 6.19) are scheduled to start the finale of the three-game series Wednesday afternoon. Keller had a career-high 10 strikeouts in his last outing against Cleveland, while Giolito is 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in seven career starts vs. the Royals.

CHICAGO (AP) – Welington Castillo atoned for an error with a two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Chicago White Sox rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Monday night.

Castillo’s poor throw on Billy Hamilton’s steal in the seventh helped set up Whit Merrifield’s tiebreaking sacrifice fly. But Castillo came up big after Tim Anderson led off the eighth with a double against Brad Boxberger (0-3), sending an opposite-field drive to right for his first homer of the season.

Manny Banuelos (1-0) pitched three hitless innings for his first win since 2015, and Alex Colome worked the ninth for his fourth save in four chances and No. 100 for his career.

Anderson had three hits and scored twice, lifting his average to a major league-leading .453.

The White Sox returned home with a little momentum after taking two of three from the Yankees in New York over the weekend.

Hunter Dozier and Chris Owings homered for Kansas City, which was coming off a three-game sweep of Cleveland, the AL Central favorites.

Dozier put Kansas City in front when he drove Ervin Santana’s first pitch of the second over the wall in center for his fourth homer. After Ryan O’Hearn flied out, Lucas Duda worked the first of his three walks and Owings connected for his first homer of the season, giving the Royals a 3-0 lead.

Dozier also doubled in the third for his fifth consecutive multihit game, one day after he singled in the winning run in Kansas City’s 9-8 victory over Cleveland. He is batting .522 (12 for 23) with three homers and five RBIs in his last six games.

Heath Fillmyer cruised into the fifth for Kansas City but came unglued a bit after Chicago had two successful replay challenges. The second one overturned an inning-ending double play and got the White Sox on the board, with Anderson scoring from second on Yolmer Sanchez’s grounder to second.

Leury Garcia then doubled in Sanchez and Yoan Moncada dumped a tying RBI single into right field. The White Sox had a chance for more after Fillmyer hit Jose Abreu with a pitch, but Yonder Alonso flied out to end the inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Hamilton returned to the lineup after missing three games with a mild MCL sprain and a bone bruise on his left knee. Hamilton got hurt when he crashed into the wall during Thursday’s loss to Seattle. … LHP Danny Duffy (left shoulder tightness) threw 61 pitches in Arizona. He is scheduled to throw 75 to 80 pitches on Saturday.

White Sox: OF Jon Jay (strained right hip) played catch in the outfield. Jay was placed on the 10-day injured list during spring training. “He’s progressing,” manager Rick Renteria said. “He’s doing better.”

UP NEXT

Royals right-hander Jorge Lopez and White Sox right-hander Reynaldo Lopez get the ball Tuesday night. Jorge Lopez (0-1, 3.71 ERA) pitched six innings of two-run ball in a no-decision against the Mariners in his previous start. Reynaldo Lopez (0-2, 12.15 ERA) has struggled so far this year, allowing 22 hits in 13 1/3 innings over three starts.