White Sox hammer struggling Strider in 13-9 win over Braves

ATLANTA (AP) — Luis Robert Jr. homered to spark a six-run fourth inning and the Chicago White Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 13-9 on Monday night.

Robert followed Andrew Benintendi's leadoff single against a struggling Spencer Strider with his 13th homer to put Chicago up 3-0. Mike Tauchman drove in two with a bases-loaded double, and Lenyn Sosa's two-out RBI single made it 7-0.

Brooks Baldwin hit his eighth home run, a leadoff shot in the third to give Chicago the lead. Sosa hit his 17th homer, a three-run drive off Austin Cox in the sixth for a 10-1 advantage. Kyle Teel and Benintendi both had four of Chicago's 19 hits.

Yoendrys Gómez (3-1) allowed four runs in five innings for the win in his second career start. Grant Taylor pitched a scoreless ninth to close it out.

Strider (5-11) was ineffective for a third straight start, allowing seven runs and 10 hits in three-plus innings. He has given up 20 runs and seven homers in his last 11 2/3 innings.

Michael Harris II went 4 for 4 with a two-run homer — his 15th — for Atlanta to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. He leads the majors with 49 hits since the All-Star break. Jurickson Profar hit his eighth and ninth homers — a two-run shot off Mike Vasil in the sixth and a three-run shot off Owen White in the eighth.

Jordan Leasure struck out Eli White with the bases loaded to end the eighth. White batted in Harris' spot after coming in as a pinch runner when Harris singled leading off the inning with the Braves trailing 13-5.

Braves reliever Daysbel Hernández had the longest active streak without allowing a homer end at 54 2/3 innings when Teel hit this third leading off the seventh.

White Sox rookie RHP Shane Smith (3-7, 4.01 ERA) starts Tuesday opposite Braves RHP Bryce Elder (5-9, 5.89).

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Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies, left, throws to first base in the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)

Chicago White Sox pitcher Yoendrys Gómez delivers in the third inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider reacts during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)

Chicago White Sox' Brooks Baldwin rounds the bases after hitting a home run in the third inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)

Chicago White Sox' Brooks Baldwin hits a home run in the third inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.

NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)