Toronto's bullpen delivers as the Blue Jays beat the White Sox 3-1 after Manoah gets hurt

CHICAGO (AP) Trevor Richards and Toronto's bullpen delivered after Alek Manoah departed because of elbow discomfort, and the Blue Jays beat the slumping Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Wednesday night.

With two out and a runner on third in the second inning, Manoah was checked on by manager John Schneider and a trainer after throwing a 91.4 mph sinker to Dominic Fletcher for a ball. The big right-hander then departed after a short discussion on the mound.

The 26-year-old Manoah will have an MRI on Thursday.

“Kind of just felt really pinchy,” he said. “At that point, like mentally, I was just like do I keep grinding through this and maybe make it worse or just hand the ball to somebody else.”

Richards (1-0) came in and pitched 3 1/3 innings of one-hit ball. Tim Mayza, Zach Pop and Yimi García each got three outs before Jordan Romano earned his eighth save in nine chances, finishing a four-hitter.

Korey Lee hit his fifth homer off Romano with two out in the ninth, but left fielder Daulton Varsho finished the game with a solid running catch on Paul DeJong's drive.

“Nice that we have an off day tomorrow, but I think you can't say enough about Trevor covering what he did as efficiently as he did,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in two runs for Toronto, which completed a 4-3 trip.

The White Sox have lost a season-high eight straight games and 12 of 13 overall. With sweeps by Baltimore (four games) and Toronto (three), it was the first winless homestand of at least seven games in franchise history.

Chris Flexen (2-5) issued a season-high five walks in five innings, but he struck out six while limiting Toronto to two runs and four hits.

Bo Bichette hit an RBI single in the third for the Blue Jays, and Kiner-Falefa singled in George Springer in the fourth. Kiner-Falefa also drove in Springer with an unusual 8-4 fielder's choice in the sixth.

Chicago scored a total of four runs in the series and 18 times overall on the seven-game homestand.

“There’s no magic wand here, OK, now we are going to start to hit,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “It’s about work. It’s about preparing, working. These guys are not afraid to sweat, not afraid to get after it. We have to continue to get after it.”

Andrew Vaughn hit a leadoff double and advanced to third on a Manoah wild pitch in the second. But Lee popped out, DeJong struck out swinging and Fletcher lined to right.

TRAINER'S ROOM

White Sox: CF Luis Robert Jr. (right hip flexor strain) went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in his second rehab game with Triple-A Charlotte. ... OF Tommy Pham got the day off.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: Following an off day, RHP José Berríos (5-4, 2.94 ERA) starts Friday night against Pittsburgh in the opener of a seven-game homestand.

White Sox: RHP Erick Fedde (4-1, 2.80 ERA) is the scheduled starter for Friday night's game at Milwaukee. But Grifol was noncommittal when asked about his rotation for the three-game set against the Brewers. “We’ll wait and see after the game, see how we get through this game here and see what we’ve got," he said.

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