Giolito wins 2nd straight start, White Sox top Blue Jays

TORONTO - Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito might have let early adversity knock him off his game last year.

Not this season.

Giolito allowed 1 run in 7 innings to win his second straight start, Tim Anderson and Yonder Alonso homered and White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 on Sunday.

Giolito (4-1) gave up 4 hits, matched his season high with 8 strikeouts and improved to 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA in his past four games.

"He just had everything going and worked extremely efficiently, so he was able to get deep into the ball game," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "He looked strong, even in the seventh."

Giolito pitched 7⅓ shutout innings to beat Cleveland in his previous outing.

Four of Toronto's first seven batters got hits, including three of the first four, but Giolito allowed just two batters to reach after the first.

"He really set the tone for us," catcher James McCann said.

Giolito said he has been able to limit early damage by remembering to gather himself between each pitch when he's in a jam.

"That's a big, big thing for me this year, not letting innings get out of control," he said. "Last year, that's one of those innings that would probably get away from me. You know, give up three runs, put myself in a hole at the beginning of the game."

Rowdy Tellez had an RBI single in the first inning. Teoscar Hernandez hit a leadoff single in the second and Randal Grichuk walked to begin the fourth, but those were the only blemishes in a stretch that saw Giolito retire 20 of 22 batters.

"He kept his composure and did a really nice job," Renteria said. "He's maturing. This young man has done a lot to put himself in a better place and it's noticeable."

Ryan Burr and Aaron Bummer each pitched one inning to complete a four-hitter in the finale of a seven-game trip.

Toronto lost for the 10th time in 12 games and dropped to a season-worst eight games below .500. The Blue Jays have scored two or fewer in eight of their past 10 games.

"It's just that everyone is struggling at the same time," manager Charlie Montoyo said. "When you're down by four, it seems like 10. It's not a good feeling. That's were we are right now."

Anderson hit a three-run homer in a five-run fourth that included Alonso's two-run homer.

Aaron Sanchez (3-4) lost his third straight start, allowing five runs in six innings. He struck out 11, one shy of his career high, including five of his first six.

White Sox center fielder Leury García stayed down after crashing into an unpadded section of the outfield wall as he hauled in Justin Smiak's deep drive in the third. Garcia finished the inning, but was replaced in the batting order by Carlos Rondón in the fourth.

Renteria said Garcia is day to day.

Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled in the first, extending his streak of reaching safely to five plate appearances. Guerrero went 0 for 3 the rest of the day.