Framber Valdez pitched seven solid innings, Yordan Alvarez drove in one run and scored another, and the Houston Astros beat the White Sox 3-2 on Wednesday, ending Chicago’s five-game winning streak.
The AL West-leading Astros held on after blowing late leads in the first two games of the series. The White Sox are two games behind Cleveland in the AL Central.
Valdez (12-4) gave up two runs on seven hits. He struck out six and walked three.
The Dominican southpaw is 4-0 in six starts since losing to Oakland on July 9.
Alvarez drove in Jose Altuve with a sacrifice fly in the first. He singled and scored on Trey Mancini’s sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Chas McCormick added an RBI double in the inning off Michael Kopech (4-9) to put Houston ahead 3-0.
The White Sox scored two in the bottom of the inning on Yoán Moncada’s RBI double and a bases-loaded grounder by Josh Harrison, which nonetheless served up a double play.
For the Astros, Cubans Yordan Álvares 2-1 with a run scored and one produced and Yuli Gurriel 4-1. Puerto Rican Martin Maldonado 3-1. Venezuelan José Altuve 3-0 with a run scored and Dominican Jeremy Peña 3-0.
For the White Sox, Dominican Eloy Jiménez 2-1 with an RBI. Cubans José Abreu 3-2 with a run scored, Yoán Moncada 4-1 with an RBI and Yasmani Grandal 3-1.