CHICAGO (AP) – Ivan Nova kept up his mastery of the Marlins, pitching a four-hitter that led the Chicago White Sox over Miami 9-1 on Monday night.
Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer and Yoan Moncada added a three-run shot, and James McCann and Ryan Goins later connected for back-to-back drives.
Chicago opened a 10-game homestand by winning for the third time in its last 11 tries. The Marlins fell to 0-4 on their current six-game road trip.
The White Sox became the first team in the majors to have protective netting in place from foul pole to foul pole, extending the safety measure for their first game at Guaranteed Rate Field since the All-Star break.
The new netting reaches a maximum height of 45 feet and, for ground rules, will be treated like a wall – any ball that bounces or is thrown off the nets will remain in play. The extra netting didn’t come into play in its debut.
Nova (5-9) improved to 5-0 lifetime against the Marlins, striking out five with no walks. This was his fourth career shutout – his previous one came with Pittsburgh on April 29, 2017, against the Marlins.
Jorge Alfaro homered in the second inning for the lone Miami run.
Trevor Richards (3-12) allowed seven runs over five innings in his seventh consecutive loss. He walked one and struck out seven.
Chicago took a 2-0 lead in the first. Jon Jay singled for the first of his two hits, Abreu followed with an RBI double and scored on Moncada’s single.
After Jay doubled in the third, Abreu hit his team-high 22nd home run of the season.
Moncada extended Chicago’s lead to 7-1 in the fifth with his 18th homer.
McCann and Goins greeted reliever Jose Quijada with home runs.
