CHICAGO — The Cy Young pitching matchup between Chicago’s Dylan Cease and Houston’s Justin Verlander didn’t quite live up to its immense advance billing. But the 4-3 victory for the White Sox before 23,476 at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday was still pretty unforgettable.
Yoán Moncada’s two-out single off Héctor Neris in the eighth scored pinch-runner Adam Engel with the game-winner, giving Moncada the game-winning hit for a second straight night. Neris almost escaped the jam by inducing a Yasmani Grandal double play grounder with two on and nobody out, but Moncada blooped one to center on a 1-0 count.
A fifth straight victory for the White Sox (61-56) left them tied with the Twins for second in the American League Central, but moved them just one game behind the Guardians, who lost once again at home to the last place Tigers.
Verlander allowed three runs on eight hits over seven innings, striking out four and walking one. He carried a 3-1 lead into the seventh, before Josh Harrison singled and Seby Zavala turned a 1-2 count into a walk. Gavin Sheets pinch-hit for Lenyn Sosa and laced a double down the right-field line to score the game-tying runs.
Cease had his streak of consecutive starts with no more than one earned run allowed end at 14, as he gave up three earned on six hits in five innings with four strikeouts. The White Sox also improved to 3-2 against the Astros, who eliminated them from the postseason last year.