CHICAGO (AP) — Joey Bart and Bryan Reynolds homered, Ke’Bryan Hayes had three hits and the Pittsburgh Pirates won their fourth straight game, beating the Chicago White Sox 9-4 on Sunday.
Nick Gonzales tripled and drove in two runs for the Pirates, who have won six of seven and reached .500 for the first time since April 27.
“We did what we needed to do to close it out,” Bart said. “We’ve got to keep that momentum going once we get back.”
Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. each had three hits for the White Sox, who have lost four straight and 10 of 13.
Chicago entered the day as the first team in MLB history with 70 losses before the All-Star break.
“I think this is a much-needed break for everybody,” Benintendi said. “Just get away and get your mind off it for a little bit. It’s not the first half we wanted, but we just gotta keep showing up, playing hard.”
Quinn Priester (2-5) allowed a run in two innings for Pittsburgh.
Bart hit a three-run homer off Chad Kuhl (0-1) to put the Pirates ahead 4-2 in the fourth.
Gavin Sheets had an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-3 in the fifth.
The Pirates pulled away with four runs in the seventh. Gonzales tripled off Jordan Leasure to bring in two runs when Benintendi was unable to make a diving catch in left field. Rowdy Tellez followed with a sac fly before Hayes and Joshua Palacios hit back-to-back doubles to make it 8-3.
Reynolds hit a solo shot, his 18th of the season, off John Brebbia in the eighth. Reynolds stopped at second base when the ball became lodged in the center field fence before the umpiring crew signaled for a homer.
The White Sox loaded the bases twice but scored just once — when Eloy Jiménez grounded into a double play in the first.
Oneil Cruz doubled off Kuhl to tie it 1-1 in the third.
The White Sox left the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning after Benintendi homered for a 2-1 lead.
“We’ve got to reset the mind and make sure you don’t stay four days without doing anything,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said. “It’s important for us to get back playing baseball on Friday.”
Mitch Keller allowed two runs in three innings for Pittsburgh to finish the first half with a 3.46 ERA.
Keller said he had issues with PitchCom early when a setting was on the wrong mode. The Pirates opted for a brief outing from their starter heading into the break.
“I guess I understand it. It’s just tough to understand it,” Keller said. “I want to be out there.”
Jared Shuster threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings for Chicago on a bullpen day.
The Pirates had not won four straight since March 28-April 1, when they took five in a row.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: Outfielder Andrew McCutchen (left hamstring soreness) started as the DH after he left Pittsburgh’s 6-2 win over Chicago on Saturday.
White Sox: Right-hander Michael Soroka (right shoulder soreness) left after throwing three pitches.
UP NEXT
Pirates: Pittsburgh had yet to announce a starter for its series opener Friday against Philadelphia.
White Sox: Chicago had not announced a starter for Friday’s series opener at Kansas City.
ORIOLES 6, YANKEES 5
BALTIMORE (AP) — Cedric Mullins hit a two-run double in the ninth inning to give Baltimore a 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday, and the Orioles remained in first place after taking advantage of two defensive misplays at the end.
Anthony Volpe’s error kept Baltimore’s two-out rally going. Then Mullins hit a liner that appeared routine, but left fielder Alex Verdugo started in at first and couldn’t recover well enough to prevent the ball from going over his head.
“I think he just misjudged it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Broke hard in, not wanting to get beat in front of him, and obviously it carried enough.”
Ben Rice hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth off Craig Kimbrel (6-2) to put the Yankees up 5-3, but New York’s closer couldn’t hold a lead either. Clay Holmes (1-4) allowed the Orioles to load the bases with two out. Then Ryan Mountcastle’s grounder should have ended it, but Volpe’s error made it 5-4 and kept the bases loaded.
Mullins, who came on as a pinch-runner the previous inning, delivered the big hit that snapped Baltimore’s five-game winning streak and enabled the Orioles to take a one-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East into the All-Star break.
“You can’t lead off an inning with two walks and make kind of a missed pitch,” Kimbrel said. “The boys battled, and we were able to put something special together there at the end. That was fun to watch.”
Baltimore went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and 2 for 22 in the series, but Mullins enabled the Orioles to avoid a three-game sweep at home. Anthony Santander and Gunnar Henderson homered for Baltimore. Trent Grisham went deep for New York.
Grisham, who was batting .173 entering the game, had three hits and drove in the first two New York runs. His RBI single in the second opened the scoring, but Henderson answered with a two-run shot in the third, his 28th homer of the season.
Grisham’s solo homer in the fifth tied it.
Carlos Rodón allowed only two runs for the Yankees, but he was up to 98 pitches after four innings, causing New York to go to its bullpen. Santander’s 24th home run put the Orioles up 3-2 in the fifth.
Baltimore starter Dean Kremer hit Aaron Judge with a pitch in the first inning, two days after Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad was hit in the helmet by a New York pitch and the benches cleared Friday night.
UP NEXT
The Yankees host Tampa Bay on Friday night. The Orioles are at Texas.
RAYS 2, GUARDIANS 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Ryan Pepiot allowed two hits in six scoreless innings, Jose Siri and Brandon Lowe homered, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the struggling AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians 2-0 on Sunday.
Despite losing 11 of 18, the Guardians (58-37) have the AL’s best record at the All-Star break for the first time since 1999. Cleveland was outscored 6-4 in dropping two of three to the Rays.
“Tough ending to a tough road trip, but couldn’t be more proud of our guys for the first half,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “And we put ourselves in a great position to come out of the break. I couldn’t be more proud of the work that this group has done.”
Tampa Bay was hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position, and finished 1 for 33 in the series. Cleveland was 0 for 5 on Sunday and 1 for 20 overall in the series.
Pepiot struck out four. Colin Poche and Jason Adam both went one hitless inning before Pete Fairbanks worked out of a two-on, no-jam in the ninth to get 17th save in 19 chances and complete a four-hitter
“I felt like he lacked a little velo early, but then he picked the velo up, but his changeup was really good,” Vogt said of Pepiot.
Steven Kwan went 1 for 4 and is hitting .352. The Cleveland outfielder, who had two hits in 12 at-bats during the series, is the first Cleveland player to lead the majors in hitting at the All-Star break since Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau in 1947.
Kwan and Angel Martínez singled off Fairbanks to start the ninth. But the closer retired the heart of the lineup — José Ramírez, Josh Naylor and David Fry — to end it.
“Saves are saves,” Fairbanks said.
Tampa Bay enters the All-Star break at 48-48. The Rays have gone 14-9 since June 19, but haven’t been more than three games above .500 this season.
“We’ve done some good things,” Rays manager Kevin Cash. “We’ve done some things that aren’t so good. I like the way that we’ve played here the last month. Feel like we’re a better version of ourselves right now.”
Siri’s first-pitch homer leading off the third was the Rays’ first hit. Lowe made it 2-0 on the Rays’ third hit, another first-pitch leadoff homer off Ben Lively (8-5) in the sixth.
“I was throwing a bunch of heaters,” Lively said. “They guessed right.”
Lively gave up two runs and three hits over 5 1/3 innings.
Cleveland’s Andrés Giménez had a fifth-inning leadoff infield single and stole second, but was thrown out at third for the first out by shortstop Taylor Walls on Daniel Schneemann’s grounder.
The Guardians were shut out twice in the series, and for the eighth time overall.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Guardians: Left-hander Matt Boyd is scheduled to pitch in a game Tuesday for the first time since Tommy John surgery with the rookie-level Guardians.
UP NEXT
Guardians: Return home Friday night against San Diego.
Rays: Right-hander Zach Eflin (5-6, 3.99 ERA) faces the New York Yankees on Friday night.
