White Sox defeat the Astros, 5-4. Photo by Getty Images.
Luis Robert Jr. homered twice and had a season-high four hits along with four RBIs in the Chicago White Sox's 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night.
The majors-worst White Sox (30-93) won for the second time in four games, snapping the AL West-leading Astros' season-best winning streak at eight games.
Pinch-hitter Jon Singleton hit a solo home run for Houston off Chad Kuhl with two outs in the ninth to cut it to 5-4. But Kuhl struck out Jose Altuve to end it and get his first save.
Robert hit a two-run homer in the third and added a solo shot in the fifth as the White Sox built a 4-1 lead. It’s the seventh career two-homer game for Robert and his first since March 30 against Detroit.
A two-run home run by Jake Meyers got Houston to 4-3 in the sixth, but Robert added some insurance with an RBI single with two outs in the eighth.
His first hit of the night came on a single in the first, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.
The Astros struck out a season-high 16 times as they lost for the first time since Aug. 5.
White Sox starter Garrett Crochet allowed four hits and a run with nine strikeouts in four innings. Chad Kuhl
Houston starter Spencer Arrighetti (5-11) yielded seven hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings.
Andrew Vaughn singled to start the second before Korey Lee doubled with one out in the inning. Michael Vargas walked to load the bases and the White Sox made it 1-0 when Vaughn scored when Dominic Fletcher grounded into a force out.
A single to left field by Nicky Lopez opened the third before Robert sent a fastball from Arrighetti off the wall in left field to make it 3-0.
Altuve hit a ground-rule double with two outs in the bottom of the inning that knocked out a digit on the manual out of town scoreboard on the wall below the seats in left field. The Astros cut it to 3-1 when he scored on a single by Yordan Alvarez.
Robert connected off Arrighetti again with two outs in the fifth on a solo shot to the first row of the seats in left field to make it 4-1.
The Astros had two on and one out in the fifth, but Alvarez grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The White Sox were up by 3 when Victor Caratini singled with two outs in the sixth. Meyers followed with his shot to left field off Touki Toussaint to cut the lead to 4-3.
Zach Dezenzo walked before Mauricio Dubón doubled to left field to chase Toussaint. He was replaced by Justin Anderson (1-0) and he escaped the jam when Chas McCormick grounded out on his first pitch to end the inning.
TRAINER’S ROOM
White Sox: RHP Matt Foster was reinstated from the 60-day injured list Friday. … RHP Dominic Leone (Tommy John surgery) was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Astros: Ace Justin Verlander (neck stiffness) allowed four hits and two runs in four innings for Double-A Corpus Christi in his second rehabilitation start Thursday night. Manager Joe Espada said he would throw a bullpen Sunday before they decide what’s next for the right-hander. … 3B Alex Bregman was out of Friday’s lineup because of swelling in the back of his right elbow. Bregman said that the problem began when he slept on it wrong a few days ago. Bregman said he could miss the weekend series and return Monday for the start of a series against the Boston Red Sox.
UP NEXT
Houston RHP Hunter Brown (10-7, 3.96 ERA) was set to face RHP Chris Flexen (2-11, 5.34) on Saturday night.
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There was a conversation Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell had during training camp, the topic being all the teams that were generating the most preseason buzz in the Eastern Conference. Boston was coming off an NBA championship. New York got Karl-Anthony Towns. Philadelphia added Paul George.
The Cavs? Not a big topic in early October. And Mitchell fully understood why.
“What have we done?” Mitchell asked. “They don't talk about us. That's fine. We'll just hold ourselves to our standard.”
That approach seems to be working.
For the first time in 36 seasons — yes, even before the LeBron James eras in Cleveland — the Cavaliers are atop the NBA at the 25-game mark. They're 21-4, having come back to earth a bit following a 15-0 start but still better than anyone in the league at this point.
“We've kept our standards pretty high,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “And we keep it going.”
The Cavs are just one of the surprise stories that have emerged as the season nears the one-third-done mark. Orlando — the only team still unbeaten at home — is off to its best start in 16 years at 17-9 and having done most of that without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero. And Houston is 16-8, behind only the Cavs, Boston, Oklahoma City and Memphis so far in the race for the league's best record.
Cleveland was a playoff team a year ago, as was Orlando. And the Rockets planted seeds for improvement last year as well; an 11-game winning streak late in the season fueled a push where they finished 41-41 in a major step forward after a few years of rebuilding.
“We kind of set that foundation last year to compete with everybody,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, we had some ups and downs with winning and losing streaks at times, but to finish the season the way we did, getting to .500, 11-game winning streak and some close losses against high-level playoff teams, I think we kind of proved that to ourselves last year that that's who we're going to be.”
A sign of the respect the Rockets are getting: Oddsmakers at BetMGM Scorebook have made them a favorite in 17 of 24 games so far this season, after favoring them only 30 times in 82 games last season.
“Based on coaches, players, GMs, people that we all know what they're saying, it seems like everybody else is taking notice as well,” Udoka said.
They're taking notice of Orlando as well. The Magic lost their best player and haven't skipped a beat.
Banchero's injury after five games figured to doom Orlando for a while, and the Magic went 0-4 immediately after he tore his oblique. Entering Tuesday, they're 14-3 since — and now have to regroup yet again. Franz Wagner stepped into the best-player-on-team role when Banchero got hurt, and now Wagner is going to miss several weeks with the exact same injury.
Ask Magic coach Jamahl Mosley how the team has persevered, and he'll quickly credit everyone but himself. Around the league, it's Mosley getting a ton of the credit — and rightly so — for what Orlando is doing.
“I think that has to do a lot with Mose. ... I have known him a long time,” Phoenix guard Bradley Beal said. “A huge fan of his and what he is doing. It is a testament to him and the way they’ve built this team.”
The Magic know better than most how good Cleveland is, and vice versa. The teams went seven games in an Eastern Conference first-round series last spring, the Cavs winning the finale at home to advance to Round 2.
Atkinson was brought in by Cleveland to try and turn good into great. The job isn't anywhere near finished — nobody is raising any banners for “best record after 25 games” — but Atkinson realized fairly early that this Cavs team has serious potential.
“We’re so caught up in like the process of improve, improve, improve each game, improve each practice," Atkinson said. “That’s kind of my philosophy. But then you hit 10-0, and obviously the media starts talking and all that, and you’re like, ‘Man, this could be something special brewing here.’”