Eloy Jimenez’s homer sparked a four-run outburst in the second inning and the Chicago White Sox held on to defeat the visiting Seattle Mariners 6-4 on a wet Wednesday night on the South Side.
Tim Anderson and Luis Robert added back-to-back shots with one out in the bottom of the seventh after the Mariners had pulled within a run.
The White Sox won their fourth game in a row and sent the Mariners to their fourth consecutive defeat.
Left-hander Dallas Keuchel, making his season debut, earned the victory, allowing three runs on six hits in five innings. Keuchel didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. Liam Hendriks earned his second save of the season despite allowing an unearned run in the ninth.
Mariners lefty Robbie Ray (1-1), who won the American League’s Cy Young Award last season while with Toronto, gave up six runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings, including all three home runs. He walked two and struck out four.
The Mariners took an early lead as Ty France homered to left field with one out in the top of the first inning.
Jimenez tied it with a blast to left leading off the bottom of second through a downpour. The start of the game was delayed 45 minutes because of inclement weather.
Andrew Vaughn then singled off the glove of third baseman Eugenio Suarez and moved to second on a wild pitch. Adam Engel walked before Josh Harrison grounded into a forceout, leaving runners at first and third. Jake Burger reached on an infield single, scoring Vaughn, and Anderson lined a two-run single to center to make it 4-1.
Seattle’s J.P. Crawford led off fifth with a double to right and advanced to third on Tom Murphy’s single. Crawford scored on Dylan Moore’s comebacker single to the mound. Murphy scored on France’s groundout, making it 4-3.
The Mariners nearly tied the score in the top of the sixth, as Jesse Winker led off with a high drive to deep right field off reliever Kyle Crick. Engel leaped at the wall, his glove extending above the yellow line, to rob Winker of a home run.
Suarez led off the ninth with a double off Hendriks, took third on a passed ball and scored on Crawford’s single to left, his third hit of the game.
–Field Level Media