Rodríguez hits a grand slam as Castillo and the Mariners beat the White Sox 5-1

CHICAGO (AP) — Julio Rodríguez hit a grand slam, Luis Castillo pitched seven crisp innings and the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 5-1 on Monday night for their fourth straight victory.

Castillo allowed three hits, struck out five and walked none in his first win since April 26. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA in four career starts against Chicago.

The last-place White Sox wasted a sharp performance by Davis Martin in their fifth consecutive loss. The right-hander pitched a career-high 7 1/3 innings of four-hit ball.

Cam Booser replaced Martin (2-5) with one on in the eighth. He walked J.P. Crawford and surrendered Mitch Garver’s pinch-hit single before Rodríguez connected for his second career slam.

Castillo (4-3) retired his last 14 batters. He threw 94 pitches, 64 for strikes.

Chicago scored its only run on Andrew Vaughn’s RBI single with two out in the ninth. Andrés Muñoz struck out Michael A. Taylor with the bases loaded for his 15th save.

The AL West-leading Mariners used three consecutive two-out singles to score their first run in the third. Ben Williamson raced home from second on Jorge Polanco’s grounder into right field.

Polanco is a .273 hitter (106 for 388) with 24 homers and 73 RBIs in 101 career games against the White Sox.

Chicago had a prime scoring opportunity in the second. Joshua Palacios hit a leadoff double and moved to third on Vaughn’s groundout. But Austin Slater struck out swinging before Josh Rojas flied out.

Key moment

Randy Arozarena robbed Vaughn with a diving catch in left for the final out of the seventh. The White Sox challenged the play, but the call on the field was upheld.

Key stat

The Mariners improved to 23-11 since April 9.

Up next

Bryse Wilson (0-2, 6.00 ERA) pitches for Chicago on Tuesday. Seattle did not announce its starter before the series opener.

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