White Sox face Red Sox, seek 1st win streak since mid-May

The Chicago White Sox ended the worst single-season losing streak in franchise history, a 14-game skid, with a 7-2 home victory against the Boston Red Sox on Friday.

Now to exhale and move on.

“It’s just a really good feeling to break a streak that seems to be the hot topic,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “Let’s start something new.”

Chicago will aim to build on its momentum on Saturday in the third game of a four-game series against the Red Sox.

The White Sox recovered from a 14-2 drubbing in the Thursday series opener to defeat Boston, benefiting from six strong innings from left-hander Garrett Crochet and solo home runs from Luis Robert Jr., Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn.

Paul DeJong (two RBIs) and Vaughn contributed two hits apiece for the White Sox, who earned their first win since a 5-0 road shutout of the Toronto Blue Jays on May 21.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” Grifol said. “This has been a hard couple of weeks.”

Boston has lost three of five to slip to .500. The Red Sox took a 2-1 lead in the third inning, a rally that included Jarren Duran’s second steal of home this season, but were unable to maintain the edge as Crochet and reliever Jonathan Cannon settled in.

Rookie right-hander Nick Nastrini (0-5, 9.74 ERA) will try to pitch the White Sox to consecutive victories for the first time since May 14-15 against the Washington Nationals.

To do so, he will need to rebound from a rough outing at Milwaukee on Sunday, when he allowed four runs and three hits in four innings.

After striking out eight in his first eight major league innings, Nastrini has fanned just six batters in 12 1/3 innings over his past three starts. He will face the Red Sox for the first time in his career.

Boston will counter with righty Brayan Bello (6-2, 4.36 ERA), who pitched a season-high 6 1/3 innings against the Detroit Tigers in a no-decision on Sunday. He allowed four runs and eight hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Bello is 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in one previous start against Chicago. He gave up one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings to defeat the host White Sox on June 23, 2023.

Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers singled in the fourth inning on Friday to extend his on-base streak to 13 games.

The status of Boston right fielder Tyler O’Neill, who left the game in the third inning due to right knee discomfort, wasn’t immediately clear. Manager Alex Cora said the team has to be “very careful” as it evaluates O’Neill’s injury history and whether to make a roster move before the Saturday game.

The Red Sox activated O’Neill from the 10-day disabled list on Wednesday after he was out because of right knee inflammation.

“I’m really hoping it’s just a couple days here,” O’Neill said. “Avoiding the (injured list) is definitely on the table. It’s something we’re going to be shooting for. So, I don’t know what the next steps are going to look like but just want to get it cleaned up as soon as possible. It’s not fun playing in pain.”