ST. LOUIS (AP) — Randal Grichuk hit a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth inning as the Chicago White Sox snapped a four-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.
Grichuk, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the fourth inning, hit his 13th home run of the season off Riley O’Brien (3-8).
Bryan Hudson pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his eighth save after Jordan Hicks (3-2) recorded the final out of
the eighth inning for Chicago, which has a 1 1/2 game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
Cardinals rookie Leo Bernal hit his third homer of the season to right field in the eighth inning off Grant Taylor to give St. Louis a 5-4 lead.
Chicago scored three runs to tie the game at 4-all in the fifth inning when Luis Gastelum entered the game after Cooper Hjerpe walked Munetaka Murakami with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth inning. He induced Grichuk to ground into a run-scoring double play before Nathan Church threw out Tristan Peters at second base after he hit an RBI single.
Hjerpe allowed four runs on two hits and four walks and hit a pair of batters in one-plus inning after tossing four perfect innings in his major league debut Sunday.
Church had three hits and an RBI for St. Louis to extend his career-best hitting streak to 11 games.
Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy allowed two hits and struck out four in three scoreless innings.
White Sox opener Sean Newcomb allowed one run and had four strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings.
RHP Michael McGreevy (6-9, 3.92 ERA) will start for the Cardinals against the White Sox, who have not named a starter for Sunday’s series finale.
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