Eloy Jimenez and Jose Abreu homered to back five strong innings from Michael Kopech and four pitchers combined on two-hit relief as the host Chicago White Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Chicago (73-69) won for the fifth time in six games and remained three games behind the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians (75-65).
Elvis Andrus joined Abreu in contributing two hits for the White Sox. Although Chicago struggled to mount an attack for much of the night, leaving six men on base, strong pitching kept the hosts in control.
Kopech (5-9) registered his first victory since defeating the Rockies in Denver on July 26, a span of seven starts. The right-hander allowed two runs and three hits in five innings with no walks and three strikeouts.
Jimmy Lambert, Reynaldo Lopez, Kendall Graveman and Liam Hendriks followed with a scoreless inning each, yielding just one walk while fanning four. Hendriks worked a perfect ninth for his 33rd save.
Yonathan Daza had a pair of hits for the Rockies, whose lone offense came on Alan Trejo’s two-run homer in the third inning.
Colorado (61-81) lost for the second straight game while falling to 6-20 on the road since the All-Star break.
With runners on the corners and one out in the first inning, Jimenez drilled a 1-0 pitch from Rockies right-hander Chad Kuhl over the center field fence for a three-run home run. It was his fourth homer in the past six games.
Although Kuhl (6-9) settled down after that, the damage was done. Kuhl scattered three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings with two walks and five strikeouts, but he allowed a home run for the 10th straight start.
Abreu provided valuable insurance in the eighth, delivering a solo shot for his first home run since Aug. 3.
The White Sox improved to 25-5 when they hit two or more home runs.
–Field Level Media
