KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Zack Greinke may have ended the debate over whether he should be a starter or a reliever.

Greinke struck out a career-high 10 and pitched two-hit ball for eight innings, leading the Kansas City Royals over the Chicago White Sox 3-0 Thursday.

Greinke (7-6) made his sixth start since rejoining the rotation on Aug. 24 and allowed just one runner past first base.

He began the season as a starter, but after getting hit hard May 6 in a loss at Detroit, he was shifted to the bullpen with a 1-4 record. Greinke worked in relief for nearly the next four months.

“I feel like I’m a starter, but other people make that decision,” Greinke said. “The main thing was to get my pitch count down and go deep into the game.”

He became the first Kansas City pitcher to reach double digits in strikeouts since Odalis Perez fanned 10 at Boston on Sept. 8 last year.

“That is something I wouldn’t have been able to do in the past,” Greinke said. “Since I’ve moved to the bullpen, I’ve been striking out guys better. Ten is a real lot. I never would have imagined that when the season started, me striking out 10 in a game cause I just couldn’t miss that many bats.”

Catcher John Buck believes Greinke should remain in the rotation.

“He made a pretty good case for himself,” Buck said. “I’m convinced. I had the best seat in the house. There were a lot of dominating pitches on a team that scored 11 runs in one inning (Monday). He was pretty dominant the whole day.”

Joakim Soria followed with a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 21 chances as Kansas City (66-86) moved back ahead of Chicago (66-87) and out of last place in the AL Central.