Rookie DH Gavin Sheets homers twice as White Sox beat Pirates to sweep 2-game series

After being thrown out in his first attempt to cross home plate, Gavin Sheets took matters into his own hands.

The 25-year-old rookie blasted a pair of home runs to lift the Chicago White Sox to a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Sheets, recalled on Wednesday from Triple-A Charlotte, was thrown out at home in the third inning but responded by hitting a three-run home run in the fourth inning and a solo shot in the eighth.

“We knew he had that type of power,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We knew this was a kid with some raw power and a good swing.”

The AL Central-leading White Sox (78-56) swept the two-game series from the Pirates (48-85), who will stay in Chicago to play a four-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The White Sox threatened to score in the third when Pirates starter Max Kranick (1-3) hit Sheets with a pitch and gave up a ground-rule double to Luis Robert to put runners on second and third with one out.

Pirates first baseman Colin Moran, however, prevented a run from scoring when he fielded a grounder by Yoan Moncada and immediately threw to catcher Jacob Stallings, who blocked Sheets from scoring at home plate. Kranick got Jose Abreu to fly out to escape the jam.

Sheets got payback in the fourth, hitting what Kranick called a “fastball that I yanked a little bit” for a three-run home run 370 feet into the visiting bullpen in right field for a 3-0 lead.

“I didn’t think it was getting out,” Kranick said, “but he got it good enough.”

Pirates right fielder Cole Tucker also didn’t think the ball would carry over the fence. Tucker had his back to the wall and believed he was going to catch it until the last moment.

“Off the bat, I did not think it was going and then the closer I got to the wall — (Tarrik) Brock always talks about finding the wall and making the play from there — I was like, ‘OK, I got no shot,’” Tucker said. “I feel like I could have robbed it had I had an extra step or two, but I just kind of ran out of real estate. But off the bat I thought F9, regular fly ball out, and it just didn’t go our way.”

The Pirates answered in the fifth, when Wilmer Difo hit a leadoff single off White Sox starter Carlos Rodon (11-5), advanced to second on a wild pitch and reached third when Hoy Park ended an 0-for-24 streak with a single to first. Cole Tucker drove Difo in with a liner to right field to cut it to 3-1.

But Kranick encountered trouble in the bottom of the fifth, as Jose Abreu reached on a fielder’s choice and Eloy Jimenez drew a full-count walk. Moran tried to turn a double play on a Yasmani Grandal grounder to first, but shortstop Kevin Newman’s throw back to first was wide as Kranick was late to cover the bag. Instead of ending the inning, Abreu scored for a 4-1 lead, and Kranick gave up a single to Brian Goodwin.

“If Kevin replaces his feet a little bit instead of trying to slow his arm down — and that’s what we talked about postgame on it — then we get it,” Shelton said. “But that’s a very difficult play that you actually see guys eat it more often than not or it gets thrown away. Throwing to the pitcher moving is challenging.”

Kranick allowed five runs on eight hits, two walks and one hit batsman in 4⅔ innings before being replaced by lefty Anthony Banda, who gave up a Leury Garcia grounder that rolled past Park and down the third base line for a double to score Grandal for a 5-1 lead.

The Pirates cut it to 5-2 in the seventh when Anthony Alford crushed Aaron Bummer’s 1-0 sinker 430 feet to left field for his second home run of the season. They added another run in the eighth, when Tucker hit a leadoff double and scored on a single to left by Stallings to make it 5-3.

Sheets fouled off five consecutive pitches before sending Duane Underwood’s four-seam fastball 424 feet to center for a 6-3 lead.

White Sox closer Liam Hendriks got the final two outs in the eighth, then retired the Pirates in order in the ninth for his 31st save.

“Obviously they’re a really, really good team,” Kranick said. “We’ll see what they end up doing down the stretch.”