Cueto, López combine for 3-hitter as White Sox down Astros
HOUSTON - Johnny Cueto and Reynaldo López combined for a 3-hitter and Luis Robert tied a career-high with 4 RBIs as the Chicago White Sox jumped on Justin Verlander early and cruised to a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday.
Cueto (1-3) allowed 2 hits and struck out five in a season-high seven innings to get his first win since July 29 with San Francisco.
"Johnny set the tempo," manager Tony La Russa said. "He's an artist out there ... that's just high, high major league pitching."
Robert tied a season best with 3 hits and José Abreu drove in 2 runs as the White Sox built a 7-0 lead after four innings to get their fourth win in five games.
Cueto allowed a leadoff single to Jose Altuve and walked a batter in the fourth and sixth innings.
But Houston didn't get another hit until Alex Bregman singled with no outs in the seventh. He was erased when Yordan Alvarez grounded into a double play before Cueto retired Kyle Tucker to end his day.
Houston manager Dusty Baker, who managed Cueto in Cincinnati, raved about the right-hander.
"When he's on with his stuff, he's as tough as anybody," Baker said. "He knows how to pitch."
López yielded 1 hit in two scoreless innings to complete the shutout.
Verlander (8-3) entered the day tied for the MLB lead with eight wins, but had a rare sub-par start in what has been a splendid season in his return after missing almost two years after Tommy John surgery.
He allowed 9 hits and 7 runs - 4 earned - in a season-low 3⅔ innings to snap a two-game winning streak.
"Those hitters at this level are really good, too," Verlander said. "So I think this might just be a situation where you give credit where credit is due."
Houston's tough day at the plate came a day after the team scored 10 runs in the sixth inning to tie a season high with 13 runs in a win in the series opener.
La Russa was impressed with the way his team bounced back after Friday's loss.
"It's a very resilient, tough minded, tough heart, tough guts club," he said. "We hung in there. That's why they have my total respect and admiration. That's an example today. We put that game behind us."
Seby Zavala singled to open the Sox's third and Danny Mendick singled with one out. The White Sox loaded the bases on a single by Andrew Vaughn before Robert's single on a liner to right field scored two to make it 2-0.
Abreu then hit a double to left field to send two more home and extend the lead to 4-0.
A single by Josh Harrison got things going for the Sox in the fourth and Adam Engel singled with one out. Altuve then let Vaughn's grounder to second roll through his legs, and Robert hit a two-run double that chased Verlander. He was replaced by Phil Maton and he retired Abreu to end the inning.