Jared Jones pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and Oneil Cruz went 3-for-4 with a solo homer and RBI single as the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates blanked the Chicago White Sox 2-0 on Thursday to complete a three-game sweep.
Jones was dominant against the slumping American League Central leaders, spacing two walks and eight strikeouts while throwing 61 of his 90 pitches for strikes.
Relievers Luke Weaver and Mason Montgomery completed Pittsburgh’s two-hit shutout.
Chicago (75-71) lost for the sixth time in eight games as its division lead dwindled to 1 1/2 games over the idle Cleveland Guardians.
Pittsburgh (74-73) climbed above .500 for the first time since July 29 while securing its first sweep of a road series this season. The Pirates moved within 4 1/2 games of the San Diego Padres for the third National League wild card spot.
Cruz paced Pittsburgh’s seven-hit attack and opened the scoring with a solo home run against Erick Fedde (8-9) leading off the fourth. Nick Gonzales had a sixth-inning double.
Chase Meidroth (third inning) and Miguel Vargas (fourth) coaxed leadoff walks against Jones and were Chicago’s lone baserunners of the night until Colson Montgomery doubled off the right-field wall with two outs in the seventh.
Jones (4-6) got Braden Montgomery on a lineout to left field to end the threat.
Mason Montgomery worked around Randal Grichuk’s leadoff single in the ninth to record his 12th save.
Lefty Hagen Smith served as Chicago’s starter and retired six of the eight hitters he faced. Smith exited for Fedde after allowing a leadoff single in the third.
Fedde worked out of trouble quickly, getting Jared Triolo to fly out to center field before inducing Konnor Griffin on an RBI groundout to third base.
Cruz connected for his 18th homer of the season, but Fedde kept the Pirates off the scoreboard for the next three innings until Cruz struck again, singling home Triolo with one out in the eighth.
Fedde spaced two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings with one walk and one strikeout.
