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For the first few innings, it looked like Chris Sale could challenge the late Jack Harshman's single-game strikeout record.
After Chris Carter's solo homer in the seventh inning, it looked like Sale could be saddled with a no-decision at best.
Sale didn't have history to show for his fine work, but everything else is gravy -- he struck out 12 over eight innings, limited the damage to that solo shot, and came away with his 10th win of the season.
Sale started his night with seven strikeouts over his first three innings, but the Astros adapted by swinging earlier in the count. Either way, they were off-balance except for two exceptions -- Jose Altuve had a couple loud outs, and Carter had a couple loud not-outs. He scored the first hit off Sale in the second with a ringing double, then scored the first run with two outs in the seventh by teeing off on a 1-1 changeup to make it a 1-1 game.
It shouldn't have been that close, but the White Sox couldn't cash in any of their scoring opportunities against Jarred Cosart, who wriggled out of trouble on multiple occasions.
Once old friend Lucas Harrell entered the game, however, Addison Reed could take the night off.
Leury Garcia, playing because Alexei Ramirez took his first night off this season, drew a leadoff walk, stole second on the first pitch and ended up on third when no Astros covered second in time, and the throw bounced into the outfield. Two batters later, he scored on Jeff Keppinger's sac fly with a sweet slide around catcher Cody Clark to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.
Harrell started the next rally with a walk to Adam Dunn, then followed it with a free pass to Paul Konerko. That brought Avisail Garcia to the plate. On a 2-2 pitch, Harrell tried running a two-seamer down and in. It wasn't quite enough of either, and Garcia got his hands in and blasted it over the fence just right of center for a three-run shot, and his first home run as a White Sox.
So Garcias bookended a four-run seventh, and Leury Garcia tacked one more with a sac fly in the eighth to allow the Sox to coast to the finish line for once. It's just the second time over the last month that they've won by five runs or more.
Record: 56-76 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights