CHICAGO (Interstat) — Carson Kelly drove in four runs and the Chicago Cubs used a four-run eighth inning to pull away from the Chicago White Sox for a 10-5 victory Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The Cubs, who improved to 29-16, won their second straight game and stayed atop the National League Central. The White Sox fell to 22-22, dropping their second in a row after winning six of their previous seven.

Attendance was 38,723, and the game lasted 3 hours, 8 minutes.

Cubs catcher Kelly, who entered the game with one hit in his previous 12 at-bats, went 3 for 5 with a double and four runs batted in. He singled home a run in the fourth inning, added another run-scoring single in the seventh and then cleared the bases with a ground-rule double in the eighth.

The game turned in that eighth inning. With the Cubs leading 6-4, Dansby Swanson led off with a double to right field. After Nico Hoerner grounded out, moving Swanson to third, the Cubs drew three consecutive walks — to Michael Busch, Alex Bregman and Seiya Suzuki — forcing home a run when Matt Shaw walked with the bases loaded to make it 7-4. Kelly then delivered the decisive blow, a ground-rule double to right-center field that scored Bregman, Suzuki and Shaw, making it 10-4.

The White Sox scored once in the ninth on a leadoff home run by Jarred Kelenic, his first of the season, but the rally ended there.

Trent Thornton pitched two scoreless innings, allowing no hits and striking out two, to earn the win and improve to 1-0. He entered in the eighth and retired six of the seven batters he faced, including a strikeout of Colson Montgomery.

Edward Cabrera started for the Cubs and worked four and two-thirds innings, giving up three runs on three hits while striking out two. He was charged with a home run by Montgomery in the second inning that tied the game 1-1. Cabrera left after the White Sox scored two runs in the fifth to cut the Cubs’ lead to 4-3.

The Cubs had taken a 4-1 lead in the top of the fifth on a double by Michael Busch that scored Hoerner and a double by Seiya Suzuki that drove in Busch. But the White Sox answered in the bottom half, scoring twice on a sacrifice grounder by Tristan Peters and a double by Drew Romo.

After the White Sox tied the game 4-4 in the sixth on a solo home run by Miguel Vargas, his 10th of the season, the Cubs regained the lead for good in the seventh. Kelly singled home Bregman, who had singled earlier, and Pete Crow-Armstrong singled home Suzuki to make it 6-4.

Javier Assad followed Cabrera and pitched two innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out one. Ryan Rolison faced one batter and recorded an out.

The White Sox’s Sean Burke started and allowed four runs on eight hits over four and one-third innings, striking out five. Bryan Hudson, who pitched one-third of an inning and gave up a hit, took the loss and fell to 1-1.

Vargas finished 2 for 4 with a home run and a double. Montgomery was 2 for 4 with a home run and a run batted in. Colson Montgomery’s home run in the second inning was his 12th of the season.

The Cubs scored first in the opening inning when Ian Happ singled home Bregman, who had reached on a single deflected by Burke. The White Sox tied it in the second on Montgomery’s solo shot to right-center.

Chicago Cubs batters collected 14 hits, while the White Sox managed eight. The Cubs scored one run in the first, one in the fourth, two in the fifth, two in the seventh and four in the eighth. The White Sox scored one in the second, two in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the ninth.

The win improved the Cubs to 29-16, while the White Sox remained at .500 at 22-22.

The two teams play again Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field as the series continues. The Cubs then host the Milwaukee Brewers for three games starting Monday. The White Sox begin a three-game series at Seattle on Monday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Chicago Cubs 6, Chicago White Sox 5. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Cubs a 65.10 percent probability to win. The Cubs had been a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 15 went under the over/under line of 8.