HOUSTON - Yuli Gurriel and Alex Bregman each homered and Charlie Morton won his 11th as the Houston Astros beat the Chicago White Sox 12-6 Saturday for their fifth straight win.
Morton (11-2) allowed five runs and five hits with eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander has won four of his last five starts.
James Shields (3-10) allowed a season high-tying eight runs on a season-high 10 hits with nine strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings for the White Sox, who have lost four straight. Shields had allowed one run over his prior two starts.
Gurriel, who also had an RBI single in the eighth, hit a three-run homer to left field to increase Houston's lead to 4-0 in the third inning.
Josh Reddick had a run-scoring fielder's choice and Evan Gattis added an RBI single to push the Astros' advantage to 6-1 in the fifth. However, Matt Davidson had an RBI single with the bases loaded and Omar Narvaez followed with a three-run double to pull Chicago within one in the sixth, chasing Morton.
Bregman's two-run homer in the bottom of the inning extended Houston's lead back to three. Bregman finished a triple shy of the cycle.
Max Stassi hit an RBI double in the second and an RBI single in the eighth for the Astros. Marwin Gonzalez added an RBI single in the seventh as every Houston starter had a hit.
Avisail Garcia hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a solo home run on to the train tracks in left in the eighth for Chicago.
TUCKER PROMOTED
The Astros promoted top prospect, outfielder Kyle Tucker from Triple-A Fresno. Tucker, who was named to the Pacific Coast League's All Star team, was hitting .306 with 14 home runs and 66 RBIs. He went 1 for 4 with a single and run scored in the seventh and an RBI walk in the eighth to go along with three strikeouts. The Astros optioned outfielder Jake Marisnick to Fresno in a corresponding move.
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: SS Tim Anderson returned to the lineup. Anderson was out Friday after being hit on the left forearm the previous day. Anderson went 0 for 4 and reached on an error in the fifth.
UP NEXT
White Sox: RHP Lucas Giolito (5-7) will make his 18th start of the season in the series finale. Giolito is 2-3 with a 7.50 ERA in his last eight stars and gave up nine runs in two innings in his last start against the Astros on April 21.
Astros: LHP Dallas Keuchel (5-8) is looking for his third straight win. Keuchel allowed two runs over seven innings in his last start Tuesday against the Rangers.
