Results, stats and recap of the Atlanta Braves vs. Atlanta game. Chicago White Sox – June 27, 2024 Gametracker

CHICAGO (AP) Luis Robert Jr. homered in the first inning and five Chicago pitchers combined on three hits as the White Sox beat Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves 1-0 on Thursday.

Sale (10-3) had a season-high 11 strikeouts in seven innings against his original team. The 35-year-old left-hander allowed four hits and a walk in his fourth straight solid start. He wasn’t tagged until Robert hit a low inside slider for his eighth home run.

“I was throwing a slider. He was hitting the slider and he put a good swing on it,” Sale said. “It’s not very often that a first-inning solo homer wins a game, but it happens.”

Chicago snapped a four-game slide and won for just the second time in nine games. The White Sox have the worst record in the majors at 22-61.

Atlanta has lost two games in a row and three of its last four games.

During a downpour on April 3, Robert entered batting just .190, but ended an 11-game home run drought. He hit 38 home runs and 80 RBIs during a stellar All-Star season in 2023, but missed nearly two months this year with a right hip flexor strain suffered at Kansas City on April 5 .

Robert said through a translator that he may have faced Sale only twice before, but the Fleet center fielder guessed right Thursday. With two hits, he raised his batting average to .204.

“I’m not where I’d like to be with my offense,” Robert said. “I’m still working on that. I think in the last two games I’ve been better with my pitch selection, even though the umpires have called down some pitches that were out of the zone.

Chad Kuhl made his first start for the White Sox and his first in the major leagues since April 2023 with Pittsburgh. He pitched three-plus innings and allowed just one hit, a double by Ozzie Albies in the top of the fourth.

The 31-year-old right-hander was eliminated after 49 pitches. He threw 99 in 4 1/3 stints in relief at Detroit on Sunday, when he allowed two runs and six hits.

“I was really hitting a wall,” Kuhl said. “I don’t know how far I finished today, but I’m very grateful.

“We were open and honest about how I felt and they got me out of there at the right time. »

Jarred Shuster (1-0), the White Sox’s second reliever, pitched three innings for the win. Michael Kopech worked an error in the ninth to earn his sixth save in 10 chances.

Kuhl signed with Chicago as a free agent during the offseason and was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte two weeks ago.

Sale spent his first seven seasons with the White Sox. He was named an All-Star for seven straight years through 2018 — five with Chicago and two with Boston — then dealt with injuries before the Red Sox traded him to Atlanta last season.

Robert fielded the first pitch he saw from Sale down the left field line and into the White Sox bullpen.

Albies led off the fourth with a double against Kuhl. Justin Anderson relieved and walked Marcell Ozuna, then retired the next three Braves batters.

John Brebbia gave up a single and a one-out walk in the eighth. Albies popped out and Ozuna was thrown out on a fly to the wall in right.

TRAINERS’ ROOM

Braves: SS Orlando Arcia (dizziness) returned to the lineup after leaving Monday’s game at St. Louis in the sixth inning, then missed Tuesday’s doubleheader.

White Sox: OF Gavin Sheets sat out and is day-to-day with a jammed left heel sustained in Wednesday’s 4-0 loss to the Dodgers.

FOLLOWING

Braves: Right-handed pitcher Charlie Morton (4-4, 4.20 ERA) faces Pittsburgh left-handed pitcher Martín Pérez (1-3, 4.71) in Atlanta on Friday night.

White Sox: Rookie RHP Drew Thorpe (1-1, 5.02 ERA) makes his fourth career start against Colorado RHP Dakota Hudson (2-10, 5.63 ERA) at home Friday night.

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Chad Kuhl’s age has been corrected in this story.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb