The White Sox have been searching for momentum all season. They may have just found it.
The club welcomed the Houston Astros to town, looking to extend their winning streak to four games. Johnny Cueto took the hill and gave the ball club eight solid innings. He only allowed two runs, both of which came in the first inning following some questionable defense from Josh Harrison and Leury Garcia. All told, just one earned run on the night for Cueto, who left this start fired up, but trailing 2-0.
From there, the offense took over. Jose Urquidy took the rubber for the Astros and had no trouble dispatching the White Sox bats through seven innings. However, it was the eighth-inning, two-out rally that proved to be the difference in this one. Nine men came to the plate for the Sox and four runs scored. It all started with a roller up the third base line off the bat of A.J. Pollock. Vaughn followed with a double, and Eloy Jimenez ripped one down the third base line to tie the game at two. After walks to Abreu and Grandal, Yoan Moncada wasted no time and lined the first pitch to center to give the Sox a 4-2 lead. That was all the Sox needed to steal a win from the Astros.
After a wild eighth inning, Liam Hendriks came on in the ninth to nail down his twenty-sixth save of the year.
With the win, the Sox move to 60-56, two games back from first-place Cleveland.
W: Johnny Cueto (5-5) | L: Rafael Montero (4-2) | S: Liam Hendriks (26)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap:
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
Bottom 8th: Eloy Jimenez doubles to LF, scoring A.J. Pollock and Andrew Vaughn. 2-2 Tie
Bottom 8th: Yoan Moncada singles to CF, scoring Adam Engel and Jose Abreu. 4-2 White Sox
Notable Performances
Johnny Cueto: 8 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
Cueto was nails today and took another ballgame into the late innings. He kept the Sox in the game after a tough first inning, only needing 100 pitches to get through eight innings. Cueto’s fourteen quality starts are his most since 2016.
Eloy Jimenez: 2-for-4, 2 RBI
Eloy Jimenez has been a huge boost to the lineup since his return, and he delivered with another huge hit late in this one.
Yoan Moncada: 1-for-4, 1 RBI
The biggest swing of the day came from the bat of Yoan Moncada. A huge two-out, two-run RBI single was the dagger to steal one from Houston.
Next Matchup
The Sox will look to win their fifth game in a row tomorrow, as Dylan Cease will take the mound vs Justin Verlander.
An absolute dynamite pitching matchup tomorrow will take place at 35th and Shields, with the first pitch at 7:10 PM over on NBC Sports Chicago.
Follow us @SoxOn35th for more updates throughout the season!
Featured Image: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports