Tyler O’Neill hits two home runs, Red Sox send White Sox to 111th loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
BOSTON (AP) — Tyler O’Neill hit two home runs for the Boston Red Sox in a 7-5 victory Saturday night, handing the Chicago White Sox their 111th loss.
Chicago wasted a two-run homer by Andrew Vaughn in the first inning, trailed 7-2 in the fifth and lost its 19th straight series.
The White Sox (32-111) are nine losses shy of tying the 1962 New York Mets for the losing team since 1900 and are on pace to finish 36-126. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders have the losing record at 20-134. Chicago has lost 14 of its last 15 games and 44 of 49.
Rob Refsnyder hit an RBI grounder and O’Neill put Boston ahead with a two-run homer in the four-run first inning against Garrett Crochet (6-11), who was 0-6 in 15 starts since beating Boston on June 7.
O’Neill cleaned up the Green Monster, hitting the ball out of Fenway Park off Enyel De Los Santos in the fifth inning for his 27th home run of the season. It was his 11th career multi-homer game, his sixth this year.
Boston (72-70) won its second straight game after snapping a five-game losing streak and trails Minnesota (76-66) in the race for the final AL wild-card spot.
Trevor Story went 1-for-4 with an RBI single in his first game since April 5 after recovering from a shoulder injury that required surgery and caused him to miss 133 games.
Connor Wong added an RBI double in the first. Romy González had three hits and stole three bases.
Kenley Jansen had three straight outs on seven pitches for his 26th save in 30 chances, the 446th of his major league career. Boston is 4-2 against the White Sox, winning the season series for the first time since 2019.
Cooper Criswell (6-4) allowed two runs and six hits in five innings in the 28-year-old right-handed rookie’s first start since being relieved after four perfect innings and 52 pitches with Detroit when Red Sox manager Alex Cora wanted to bring in left-hander Rich Hill, but Hill squandered a one-run lead in a 4-1 loss.
Andrew Benintendi hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning off Chase Shugart, the former Boston outfielder’s 16th of the season.
Boston improved its record to 35-13 while wearing its yellow alternate uniforms, including 20-9 since the start of 2023 and 8-6 this season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
White Sox: 3B Miguel Vargas was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts after missing two games with a graze to his right eye.
Red Sox: RHP Isaiah Campbell was recalled from Worcester and placed on the 60-day Injured list with right elbow inflammation. Campbell has appeared in eight games for Boston this season, allowing 12 runs in 6 2/3 innings. To make room for Story on the active roster, Boston sent INF Mickey Gaspar to Triple-A Worcester.
NEXT
RHP Chris Flexon (2-14, 5.36) will start the final game of the series for the White Sox on Sunday.
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