Mike Clevinger came within one batter of pitching a shutout and Luis Robert Jr. smacked a three-run homer as the Chicago White Sox defeated the host Washington Nationals 6-1 to begin a series between non-contenders Monday night.
Tim Anderson went 4-for-5, helping the White Sox (58-93) win for just the second time in seven games.
Clevinger (8-8) struck out seven batters and surrendered only six hits — including Dominic Smith’s two-out home run in the bottom of the ninth inning — in a complete game. He has fanned 23 batters without issuing a walk in 26 September innings. It was his third career complete game, his first since 2020.
The Nationals (66-85) dropped the opener of their final homestand of the season, giving them six defeats in the past seven games. Joan Adon (2-3) allowed five runs and nine hits in five-plus innings. He walked two and struck out five.
CJ Abrams had two of Washington’s hits. The batters in the Nos. 3-7 positions in the Washington lineup combined to go 1-for-19, with the lone hit coming on Smith’s 10th home run of the year.
Clevinger, who has alternated wins and losses in every decision since early May, didn’t appear dominant early on as Abrams and Lane Thomas, the first two batters in the Washington order, singled in the bottom of the first inning. Abrams, though, was picked off first base before Thomas’ hit.
Robert, who didn’t play on Sunday against the Minnesota Twins, put the White Sox on the board when he hit his 36th home run of the season with two outs in the fifth inning. It was his first long ball in 15 games.
Chicago tacked on three runs in the sixth on run-scoring singles from Andrew Vaughn, Elvis Andrus and Andrew Benintendi.
Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Vaughn all finished with two hits in Chicago’s 15-hit outburst. The White Sox left 10 runners on base.
–Field Level Media