Moncada goes 5 for 6 with 2 homers as Sox beat A's 14-2
OAKLAND, Calif. - Yoán Moncada went 5 for 6 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI, Dylan Cease stuck out nine in six scoreless innings and the White Sox hammered the Oakland Athletics 14-2 on Thursday night.
The 14 runs were a season high for Chicago, which has won seven of its last nine games. Chicago had 21 hits, including 10 extra-base hits.
Romy González went 4 for 5 with a homer and 3 RBI. Elvis Andrus, released by the A's in August, and Eloy Jiménez also homered.
Cease (14-6) reached 206 strikeouts for the year, becoming the seventh White Sox pitcher with multiple 200-strikeout seasons. The right-hander allowed 3 hits and 2 walks after coming within one out of a no-hitter in his last start against the Minnesota Twins.
Oakland has lost three in a row and seven of its last eight.
Andrus and Moncada started the game with back-to-back home runs off of JP Sears. Andrus singled home another run in the second, followed by Moncada's second homer of the night, a 3-run shot.
Sears (5-2) surrendered a career-high 6 runs on 8 hits and a walk in two innings.
Jiménez tacked on a 2-run homer in the fourth. Adam Engel singled in another run in the fifth, followed by an RBI double by Moncada two batters later.
The White Sox added 4 runs in the sixth on an RBI single by Andrew Vaughn and a 3-run homer by González to make it 14-0.
Chicago finished with 21 hits, including 10 extra-base hits.
The A's finally scored in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Shea Langeliers. Sheldon Neuse followed with an RBI groundout.
Miguel Cairo improved to 7-3 as White Sox acting manager as Tony La Russa remains away from the team with an unspecified health issue.
"There's nothing official, nothing that we know," Cairo said of La Russa's return. "We're waiting to see. We don't know yet. ... I talk to him every day. He's doing fine."
Cairo has served as La Russa's bench coach for the last two years. He filled in as manager for last season's "Field of Dreams" game when La Russa attended his brother-in-law's funeral.
"I love the challenge (of managing)," Cairo said. "I love the adrenaline. I love the butterflies that you get during the game. If he comes back, he's the manager. I'm the bench coach."
White Sox outfielder Luis Robert missed his second straight game after getting hit on his left fingers during a swing on Tuesday in Seattle. He is also dealing with a sore left wrist. "It's day-to-day," Cairo said. "We're going to see how he feels tomorrow and we'll just go from there."