Dallas Keuchel didn’t show any rust in his return from the injured list.
The Chicago White Sox starter struck out seven in four scoreless innings Saturday in a 5-0 victory against the Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
All five runs came via solo home runs. Tim Anderson homered twice and Nomar Mazara hit his first homer of the season. Anderson, Yasmani Grandal and Jose Abreu hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the eighth against reliever Robert Stephenson.
The Sox magic number for clinching the American League Central is four.
Starting pitching was the story early in the game as Keuchel and the Reds’ Trevor Bauer both were sharp.
Keuchel allowed four hits and three walks. He exited after throwing 75 pitches.
Before the game, manager Rick Renteria said the Sox would “measure (Keuchel’s) usage.” The Sox reinstated Keuchel from the injured list and optioned pitcher Jonathan Stiever to Schaumburg before the game.
Keuchel went on the injured list Sept. 10 (retroactive to Sept. 7) because of back spasms. He has a 2.09 ERA, which ranks second in the American League.
Bauer allowed two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk in seven innings.
The Sox (34-18) scored twice in the fifth. Mazara began the inning with a homer to right off Bauer. Anderson homered to center later in the inning.
Anderson led off the eighth with a homer to center, his 10th. Grandal homered to right-center, his seventh, and Abreu homered to left-center, his 18th. Abreu leads the AL with 52 RBIs.
The Sox hit at least five home runs in a game for the fifth time this season.
Matt Foster (5-0) struck out two in two perfect innings for the win.
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