CHICAGO — Luis Robert Jr., Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn homered, and the Chicago White Sox stopped a 14-game losing streak by downing the Boston Red Sox 7-2 on Friday night.
Garrett Crochet struck out 10 in six innings as Chicago posted its first win since a 5-0 victory at Toronto on May 21. The 14-game slide set a franchise record for a single season, and it was the longest losing streak in the majors since the Angels also dropped 14 straight in 2022.
“Just to stop the streak, I mean it’s time to move on,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “Let’s continue to play baseball. I’m really proud of these guys.”
Robert hit a 430-foot solo drive to center off Cooper Criswell with two out in the first. Sheets and Vaughn began the sixth with consecutive homers against Greg Weissert, lifting the White Sox to a 6-2 lead.
There was a delay in the fourth inning after three small bottles were thrown toward the field.
A White Sox spokesperson described the bottles as plastic and “travel-sized.” The team said it was investigating, but there were no injuries.
The delay occurred before Paul DeJong batted with runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the fourth.
DeJong said during the White Sox TV broadcast that they were “flying full bottles of liquor.” He said a kid in the front row was hit in the head and had to leave.
Speaking after the win, Vaughn said he heard a kid was hit.
“I don’t know when that happened,” Vaughn said. “I was on deck, [Gavin Sheets] was up and heard a loud thud and looked down and there was a little shot glass or something right in front of me.”
Grifol praised the response by ballpark security.
“I really don’t know where they came from,” Grifol said. “One landed close to me and closer to some fans there. The most important thing is we notified security and they took care of it. We didn’t have any more issues.”
Crochet (6-5) allowed three hits and one earned run. The left-hander improved to 5-1 with a 1.10 ERA in his past seven starts.
“It was huge. The guys in there, we showed no quit,” Crochet said. “Tonight I think that you kind of saw that.”
Jonathan Cannon pitched three innings for his first career save.
“I just went out there and I was going to go until they told me to stop,” Cannon said.
The Red Sox scored both of their runs during a strange sequence in the second inning.
Bobby Dalbec walked and scored from first when Crochet committed a throwing error on Jarren Duran‘s comebacker. Duran missed first on the play and the White Sox decided to appeal. Duran started running when Crochet threw over, and he swiped home for a 2-1 lead.
Vaughn went to the bag after the throw got away from him, but first-base umpire Alan Porter said the runner was safe.
Grifol said he didn’t see the call, so he didn’t think he could challenge the decision with plate umpire Sean Barber.
“So once everything was over, I said, ‘Sean, can we appeal?’ And he said, ‘You already did,'” Grifol said. “I didn’t see it. He called him safe. So at that point, I didn’t challenge anything because I thought time had elapsed.”
The Red Sox finished the game without right fielder Tyler O’Neill, who departed in the third because of right knee discomfort. O’Neill was just activated from the 10-day injured list on Wednesday after being sidelined by right knee inflammation.
“Hopefully we avoid the IL, but at the same time playing short doesn’t make sense,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.