TORONTO (AP) — Garrett Crochet and three relievers combined on a two-hitter, Corey Julks and Danny Mendick each had two RBIs and the Chicago White Sox snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 on Tuesday night.
All five White Sox runs came with two outs.
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TORONTO (AP) — Garrett Crochet and three relievers combined on a two-hitter, Corey Julks and Danny Mendick each had two RBIs and the Chicago White Sox snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 on Tuesday night.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws to a Chicago White Sox batter during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox's Korey Lee scores ahead of the tag from Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox's Korey Lee scores next to Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox's Korey Lee (26) is congratulated after scoring against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet throws to a Toronto Blue Jays batter during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
“That’s something that we’ve needed here for a little bit,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “Guys stepped up.”
The White Sox avoided falling a season-worst 21 games below .500 and snapped a seven-game losing streak in Toronto. The Blue Jays were blanked for the third time.
Crochet (5-4) allowed two hits, struck out four and walked just one in six innings to win his fourth straight start.
“He’s a special one,” White Sox catcher Korey Lee said. “We’re lucky that we have him on our team. He had all his pitches working in the zone. Good things happen when we have options like that.”
The left-hander extended his scoreless innings streak to 19.
“Throwing up those zeroes like that, giving the bullpen a little rest, that was amazing,” Julks said. “That was my first time seeing him throw. I was very impressed.”
Crochet retired the first 13 batters before Toronto designated hitter Justin Turner snapped a career-worst 0-for-30 slump with a double in the fifth inning.
Crochet retired the next two batters to strand Turner.
“From the first batter on, I’m pretty aware of it,” Crochet said of his start. “In about the third inning, I was trying to get myself to stop thinking about it. I probably forgot about going into the fifth inning. Then I gave up the hit and I was like ‘Dammit.’ ”
Ernie Clement’s single in the sixth was the only other hit off Crochet.
“We hit some balls hard but didn’t get much going,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. "You tip your hat to a good pitcher.”
John Brebbia worked the seventh, Jordan Leasure pitched the eighth and Michael Kopech struck out the side in the ninth.
Toronto left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (2-4) lost his third straight decision, allowing three runs, two earned, and five hits in six innings.
Nicky Lopez opened the scoring with a two-out single off Kikuchi in the second. His single drove in Lee, who had reached on a throwing error by third baseman Clement.
Chicago’s Eloy Jiménez left after straining his left hamstring while scoring from second base on Julks’ two-out single in the top of the fifth inning. Gavin Sheets took over as the designated hitter in the seventh.
Grifol said he expected Jiménez to miss at least a couple of games, but wasn’t sure how long the absence might last.
“We won’t know ’till tomorrow,” Grifol said. “Obviously you’ve got to see how he wakes up.”
Andrew Vaughn drew a one-out walk in the fifth and Jiménez doubled him to third. Paul DeJong struck out before Julks singled. Jiménez slowed up rounding third and limped off the field.
Mendick made it 5-0 with a two-out double off left-hander Tim Mayza in the eighth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
White Sox: OF Luis Robert Jr. (right hip) wil play five innings in an Arizona Complex League game on Wednesday, Grifol said.
Blue Jays: RHP Yariel Rodríguez (back) lasted 1/3 of an inning in a rehab start at Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday night. He faced four batters before being replaced.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays RHP Chris Bassitt (3-6, 5.03 ERA) is expected to start Wednesday’s series finale. The White Sox will promote RHP Nick Nastrini (0-2, 7.88) from Triple-A Charlotte to face the Blue Jays. RHP Mike Clevinger had been scheduled to face Toronto but will be pushed back to Thursday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Chicago White Sox's Nicky Lopez watches his RBI single against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws to a Chicago White Sox batter during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox's Korey Lee scores ahead of the tag from Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox's Korey Lee scores next to Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox's Korey Lee (26) is congratulated after scoring against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Chicago White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet throws to a Toronto Blue Jays batter during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday and offered measured optimism about progress toward a cease-fire deal for Gaza as he neared the end of a contentious U.S. visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war.
At Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years, Netanyahu told journalists he wanted to see U.S.-mediated talks succeed for a cease-fire and release of hostages.
“I hope so,” Netanyahu said, when reporters asked if his U.S. trip had made progress. While Netanyahu at home is increasingly accused of resisting a deal to end the 9-month-old war to stave off the potential collapse of his far-right government when it ends, he said Friday he was "certainly eager to have one. And we’re working on it.”
As president, Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States. Yet relations soured after Netanyahu became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden for his 2020 presidential victory, which Trump continues to deny.
The two men now have a strong interest in restoring their relationship, both for the political support their alliance brings and for the luster it gives each with their conservative supporters.
A beaming Trump was waiting for Netanyahu on the stone steps outside his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. He warmly clasped the hands of the Israeli leader.
“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump insisted before journalists. Asked as the two sat down in a muraled room for talks if Netanyahu’s trip to Mar-a-Lago was repairing their bond, Trump responded, “It was never bad.”
For both men, Friday’s meeting was aimed at highlighting for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again.
Netanyahu’s Florida trip followed a fiery address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday that defended his government’s conduct of the war and condemned American protesters galvanized by the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the conflict.
On Thursday, Netanyahu had met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears on track to becoming the new Democratic presidential nominee after Biden decided to step out of the race. Both pressed the Israeli leader to work quickly to wrap up a deal to bring a cease-fire and release hostages held by Hamas.
Trump’s campaign said he pledged in Friday's meeting to “make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East” and combat antisemitism on college campuses if American voters elect him to the presidency in November.
Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photo that the Israeli leader said showed a child who has been held hostage by Hamas-led militants since the first hours of the war. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump assured him.
In a speech later Friday before a group of young Christian conservatives, Trump said he also asked Netanyahu during their meeting how “a Jewish person, or a person that loves Israel” can vote for Democrats.
He also laced into Harris for missing Netanyahu's speech and claimed she “doesn’t like Jewish people” and “doesn’t like Israel." Harris has been married to a Jewish man for a decade.
For Trump, the meeting was a chance to be cast as an ally and statesman, as well as to sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.
Divisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have opened cracks in years of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid.
For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that Trump may once again become president of the United States, which is Israel’s vital arms supplier and protector.
One gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.
“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career in the last two decades in tethering himself to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
For the next six months, that means “mending ties with an irascible, angry president," Miller said, meaning Trump.
Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.
For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hoped would be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.
In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him back with disloyalty.
He also has criticized Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, for example.
In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday and again Friday at Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.”
Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem's status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
“I appreciated that,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu's praise.
Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, but he hasn’t elaborated on how.
Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, Adriana Gomez Licon in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed. Knickmeyer reported from Washington. Price reported from New York.
Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Turning Point Believers' Summit, Friday, July 26, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks while meeting with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - President Donald Trump, right, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office, Sept. 15, 2020, at the White House in Washington. Trump is due to talk face-to-face with Netanyahu for the first time in nearly four years. The meeting Friday, July 26, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago will mend a break that has lasted since 2021. Trump at the time blasted Netanyahu for being one of the first leaders to congratulate President Joe Biden for his election victory. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
