White Sox shut down A's in 6-2 win

CHICAGO - Chris Sale pitched eight scoreless innings for his first victory in 49 days, Jose Abreu homered and the Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6-2 on Saturday night.

Sale (15-6) was the majors' first 14-game winner and the AL starter in the All-Star Game, but the lefty had gone 0-4 in six starts, interrupted by a five-day suspension for slicing up throwback uniforms he didn't want to wear.

Sale allowed three hits and retired the last seven batters, five by strikeout, while throwing a season-high 120 pitches.

The White Sox scored four runs with two outs, including Abreu's solo shot that just cleared the eight-foot wall in right in the first inning. Melky Cabrera added an RBI double in the second and a run-scoring single in the fourth off Ross Detwiler (1-2).

Oakland's Danny Valencia homered in a two-run ninth off Nate Jones before David Robertson earned his 31st save.

Detwiler allowed six runs and 10 hits in four innings in his third start for the banged-up A's, who have dropped six of seven.

Carlos Sanchez and Tim Anderson added two-out RBI singles for the White Sox, who snapped a two-game skid and won for the fourth time in 14 games.

Sale got Khris Davis to hit into a double play with two on in the first. Sale walked three but got stronger as the game went on. He retired 15 of the last 16 batters. He struck out eight and lowered his ERA to 3.15.

PINDER DEBUTS

Chad Pinder, Oakland's second-round pick in 2013, made his major league debut, went 0 for 4 and flied deep to center with two on to end the game. The 24-year-old out of Virginia Tech became the 46th player to appear in a game for Oakland this season and the 11th to make his big league debut.