CHICAGO -- Dallas Keuchel limited the Tampa Bay Rays to four hits in seven stellar innings to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 3-0 victory Tuesday in front of 19,259 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Keuchel (6-1) struck out five and walked one in the 102-pitch outing.
Adam Engel hit a solo home run and Tim Anderson had three singles for the Sox, who evened the highly anticipated three-game series between the teams with the best records in baseball.
The Sox (42-25) maintained a 4½-game lead in the American League Central over the second-place Cleveland Indians and returned to 17 games over .500.
The first two runs came in the fourth.
Danny Mendick singled to left with two outs, and Andrew Vaughn scored when Randy Arozarena’s throw to the plate got by catcher Francisco Mejía. Leury García kept running and also scored on the play.
Mendick was back at second base the same day the Sox announced Nick Madrigal would miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair the proximal tendon tears in his right hamstring.
García started at third as Yoán Moncada was out of the lineup with a sinus infection. Moncada’s status is day to day.
Engel homered to left off Rays starter Shane McClanahan to begin the fifth.
García made a nice play in the sixth, fielding a grounder on a tough hop to start an inning-ending double play.
Keuchel got two groundouts and a strikeout in the seventh to wrap up his start.
Aaron Bummer struck out one in the eighth. Closer Liam Hendriks allowed two singles in the ninth but struck out the final two batters for his 18th save.
