Advertisement

White Sox rookie Eloy Jimenez blasts Astros with two homers

By Alex Butler
Star prospect Eloy Jimenez now has five home runs during his rookie campaign this season for the Chicago White Sox. Photo by Trask Smith/UPI
Star prospect Eloy Jimenez now has five home runs during his rookie campaign this season for the Chicago White Sox. Photo by Trask Smith/UPI | License Photo

May 23 (UPI) -- Chicago White Sox rookie Eloy Jimenez showed off his raw strength with a two-homer game in a win against the Houston Astros.

The former star prospect went yard in the second and eighth innings of the 9-4 win on Wednesday at Minute Maid Park in Houston. He now has five homers and 10 RBIs on the season.

Advertisement

"It's better to have two homers," Jimenez told reporters, according to MLB.com. "The first one [off Astros starter Gerrit Cole], I liked more, because it was my first hit in the series."

Neither team scored a run in the first frame, before James McCann began the second inning with a line out for the White Sox. Yonder Alonso followed with a ground out in the next at-bat, before Jimenez walked to the plate to face Cole.

The right-handed pitcher went up 0-2 on Jimenez before the rookie evened the count. Jimenez then smoked an 86.1-mph Cole slider over the center-field fence for a 418-foot solo home run. The blast had an exit velocity of 106.2 mph and a launch angle of 34 degrees, according to Statcast.

Advertisement

Jose Abreau hit his 12th home run of the season in the fourth inning to put Chicago ahead 2-0, before Houston rallied in the bottom of the inning. Alex Bregman homered to start the comeback. Carlos Correa followed with an RBI double. Aledmys Diaz hit a sacrifice fly to give the Astros a 3-2 lead.

Chicago fought back for the lead in the sixth inning. Yoan Moncada singled in Leury Garcia to tie the score, before James McCann plated Moncada with an RBI double. Charlie Tilson provided the biggest blow, smacking a grand slam off Astros reliever Josh James and giving the White Sox an 8-3 edge.

The No. 3 overall prospect in baseball returned to the plate two innings later to provide some more cushion. Jimenez settled in against Houston's Brady Rodgers during that exchange. The right-handed reliever tossed in a 93-mph fastball and Jimenez sent the pitch into the right center field seats for his second homer of the game.

That solo blast traveled 427 feet and had an exit velocity of 109.9 mph.

Josh Reddick plated the final run of the game, plating Houston's Tony Kemp in the bottom of the ninth inning to make the score final.

Advertisement

Ivan Nova picked up his third win of the season for Chicago, allowing 10 hits and three runs in seven innings. Jimenez went 2-for-4 with three runs scored, two RBIs and a strikeout in the win. He is now hitting .233 during his rookie campaign.

The White Sox and Astros clash in the final game of their series at 8:10 p.m. Thursday in Houston.

Latest Headlines