Guardians spin four-hit shutout of White Sox

Triston McKenzie threw 5 2/3 shutout innings to help the Cleveland Guardians to a 4-0 win against the visiting Chicago White Sox in the opener of their three-game series on Monday afternoon.

McKenzie (1-1), who was limited to four starts and 16 innings last season because of injuries, allowed three hits, struck out two and walked four on 87 pitches.

Jose Ramirez hit a two-run home run, Steven Kwan had three hits and scored a run and Andres Gimenez and Josh Naylor each had two hits and a run for the Guardians, who have won eight of their first 10.

The White Sox used a string of relief pitchers, starting with left-hander Tanner Banks (0-1), who allowed one run and two hits in 2 1/3 innings, striking out five without a walk.

The White Sox, who finished with four hits, have lost nine of their first 10.

Banks struck out five of the first six batters before Gimenez doubled into the left-field corner on the first pitch of the third inning.

Gimenez was still on second with one out when Brayan Rocchio hit a hard grounder that went off the glove of shortstop Braden Shewmake and into shallow left for an error, allowing Gimenez to score from second for a 1-0 lead.

Dominic Leone replaced Banks with runners on the corners and one out and induced an inning-ending double play.

The Guardians loaded the bases off Leone with one out in the fourth on two singles and a walk. Tim Hill replaced Leone and hit Gimenez with a pitch to force in a run and extend Cleveland's lead to 2-0.

After Kwan singled to center with one out in the fifth, Bryan Shaw entered for Hill and surrendered the two-run homer to Ramirez on a 2-2 slider to push the score to 4-0.

McKenzie departed after giving up a two-out single to Andrew Benintendi in the sixth.

Tim Herrin came in and walked Dominic Fletcher, but then struck out pinch-hitter Paul DeJong.

Hunter Gaddis pitched a scoreless seventh for Cleveland, Cade Smith did the same in the eighth and Emmanuel Clase finished out the ninth.