The Chicago White Sox ended a dismal trip on a positive note, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3, on Wednesday at PNC Park.
Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run double in fifth inning, helping the Sox snap a season-high five-game losing streak. The Sox dropped all four games in Houston and the first of the two-game series against the Pirates, finishing 1-5 on the trip.
Grandal, who had a pinch-hit, three-run home run in Tuesday’s 6-3 loss, broke a 2-all tie Wednesday with his two-out double to left-center.
The Sox scored their first two runs in the second. Leury García homered to right. Luis González doubled to left for his first major league hit and scored on a Tim Anderson double.
The Pirates took advantage of poor defense to tie the game in the third. Pitcher Dylan Cease couldn’t handle a bunt and then threw wildly. He was charged with two errors, giving the Pirates runners on second and third with no outs.
Adam Frazier, the subject of trade speculation, had an RBI groundout, and Ke’Bryan Hayes tied the game with a run-scoring single.
Anderson and Jake Lamb singled in the fifth before Grandal knocked them both in with a double.
Cease (6-3) allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits with seven strikeouts and a walk in 5 2/3 innings.
The Pirates scored once in the seventh against reliever Codi Heuer. Aaron Bummer got the Sox out of a two-on, one-out jam in the inning. Colin Moran flied out to center and Gregory Polanco to grounded out to the second baseman García.
Liam Hendriks struck out one in a perfect ninth for his 19th save, and the Sox increased their lead in the American League Central to 2 1/2 games over Cleveland.
