Sale sharp again as White Sox beat Astros
Chris Sale pitched eight shutout innings to earn his fifth straight win and Adam Dunn had a grand slam and five RBIs Saturday to lead the White Sox to a 10-1 victory over the Houston Astros.
Sale (8-2) sailed through Houston's lineup on an 87-degree afternoon. The 6-foot-6 left-hander allowed four singles, struck out seven and walked none while throwing 101 pitches.
He was struck by a comebacker from Jed Lowrie that appeared to hit him in the back of the left heel in the sixth inning, but was not injured and stayed in the game.
Gordon Beckham had three RBIs and Alejandro De Aza finished with four hits for the White Sox, who sent 10 batters to the plate during a five-run fifth that chased Houston starter Jordan Lyles (1-2). Chicago finished with 17 hits — 16 singles and Dunn's 19th homer, a bases-loaded shot off Rhiner Cruz in the eighth for his 12th career grand slam.
Lowrie hit his 12th homer leading off the ninth against Zach Stewart.
Two fielding miscues got the Chicago fifth going.
Alexei Ramirez reached on third baseman Matt Downs' throwing error to start the inning. Jordan Danks had an infield single and Ramirez reached third after a bad throw by second baseman Jose Altuve.
Eduardo Escobar worked a walk to load the bases, De Aza delivered an RBI single, and Beckham followed with a two-run single to right as Escobar made a nice slide around catcher Chris Snyder to score the third run. Dunn hit a sacrifice fly and, after a walk to Paul Konerko, Alex Rios had another RBI single to finish Lyles.
Beckham added an RBI single in the sixth
The 21-year-old Lyles allowed seven hits and five runs, four earned, with three walks in his 4 1-3 innings. He is now 0-5 in 14 road games, including 12 starts.
NOTES: White Sox LF Dayan Viciedo, who left Friday's game after five innings with tightness in both hamstrings, was out of the lineup. Jordan Danks made his first major league start in left and got two hits. His brother, LHP John Danks, is scheduled for a minor league rehab outing Tuesday. He's been on the DL with a strained left shoulder. ... The White Sox were doing more tests on 3B Brent Morel, who pulled himself out of a rehab game earlier in the week. Morel has been bothered by back problems. ... Houston placed OF Fernando Martinez on the seven-day disabled list Saturday for post-concussion like symptoms. Martinez was complaining of blurred vision. He was hit in the head by a pitch while playing for Oklahoma City on May 26. He was called up to the major league team June 2. Four days later, he may have hit his head diving for a ball against the Cardinals. "The thinking was that might have stirred something up a little bit. He went and saw the doctors on Friday and they wanted more tests done," Astros manager Brad Mills said. ... Astros INF Chris Johnson, who left Friday night's game in the sixth inning with nausea, was not in the lineup.