Dylan Cease allowed one hit over seven shutout innings and Yoan Moncada, Andrew Vaughn and Josh Harrison each homered during a six-run seventh as the Chicago White Sox cruised to a 11-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Cease (9-4), who entered the contest with a 1-4 record and 7.64 ERA in seven career starts against the Twins, didn’t allow a hit over the first 4 1/3 innings until Alex Kirilloff singled to left. Relievers Joe Kelly and Jose Ruiz held the Twins to the lone hit.
Cease walked two and struck out eight to take the American League strikeout lead with 150.
Vaughn went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs while Harrison also had two hits and three RBIs. Jose Abreu and Moncada, who had a ground-rule double and two runs scored, also had two hits for the White Sox.
Adam Engel added three hits, including an RBI double, and scored twice as Chicago finished with 16 hits.
Minnesota’s Chris Archer (2-4), activated off the 15-day injured list earlier Sunday, allowed four runs on five hits over 4 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
The game was scoreless until the fifth, when the White Sox took a 4-0 lead after Archer retired the first two batters of the inning on two pitches. Seby Zavala walked and advanced to third on a single by Engel, who took second when left fielder Nick Gordon mishandled the ball for an error. Tim Anderson made it 2-0 with a single to right and went to third on Moncada’s ground-rule double down the right field line. Vaughn then doubled in Anderson and Moncada to increase the lead to 4-0.
Chicago blew the game open with the six-run, 10-batter seventh inning that featured three home runs, all against reliever Joe Smith.
Moncada upped the lead to 6-0 with his fifth homer of the season, a 437-foot two-run shot off the batters’ eye in center. Vaughn followed with his 10th home run of the season to left-center to make it 7-0. Abreu singled and advanced to second on a walk by Gavin Sheets. Harrison then clubbed his fourth homer of the year to left to increase the lead to 10-0.
Engel added a bloop RBI double in the ninth to finish the scoring.
Despite the loss, Minnesota heads into the All-Star break with a two-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
–Field Level Media