Yasmani Grandal and Adam Engel homered for the Chicago White Sox in a 5-2 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays in front of 16,903 fans Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Starter Dallas Keuchel allowed two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in six innings for the Sox, who took two of three in the series.
Grandal’s home run, his 10th of the season, came during a three-run first.
Yermín Mercedes — batting second in the lineup for the first time — doubled and scored on a double by José Abreu. Grandal followed with a two-run homer.
Marcus Semien knocked in a run with a single in the fifth, cutting the Sox lead to 3-1. The Blue Jays had runners on the corners with two outs when Keuchel struck out Bo Bichette to limit the damage.
Keuchel got what had the makings of an inning-ending double play in the sixth when Randal Grichuk hit a grounder to third with a runner on first and one out. But instead of throwing to second, Yoán Moncada threw to first. The next batter, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., drove in a run with a single to make it 3-2.
Engel provided insurance with a solo home run in the seventh. It was his first hit of the season since returning from a strained right hamstring Sunday.
Abreu knocked in Tim Anderson with a double in the eighth.
Closer Liam Hendriks struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his 16th save, and the Sox increased their lead in the American League Central to 4½ games over the second-place Cleveland Indians, who were off Thursday.
