The last-place Red Sox are playing for a chance to finish above .500 and to catch the rival Yankees and avoid finishing last in the AL East for the third time in four seasons. Chicago, which is all-but locked into fourth place in the AL Central, snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the fourth time in 12 games.
Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta threw seven shutout innings, but White Sox starter Dylan Cease was just as dominant and a cheap homer was all Chicago needed to win.
There's no other ballpark in the majors where Luis Robert Jr.'s 311-foot line drive would have been a home run. “It was hilarious because he’s got (38) home runs and all that, and then he hits one 311,” said Dylan Cease, who struck out 11 in seven scoreless innings to surpass 200 strikeouts for the third straight season. Playing in a cold rain, with the wind blowing in at a steady 10 mph, Cease and Boston starter Nick Pivetta matched scoreless innings before both departed after seven.
Trevor Story hit a three-run homer, Tanner Houck pitched six effective innings and Boston climbed out of the AL East basement with a 5-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday in the opener of a doubleheader after the Red Sox fired Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom.