Stanton crushes rare slam as Yankees complete sweep

CHICAGO: Giancarlo Stanton hit his first grand slam in over four years, Luis Severino settled down after a shaky start to become the first 15-game winner in the American League, and the New York Yankees beat the host Chicago White Sox 7-3 on Wednesday night to finish a three-game sweep.

Stanton gave the Yankees a 6-2 lead when he hooked a full-count fastball by Lucas Giolito (7-9) just inside the foul pole and into the right field seats with one out in the second inning. It was his sixth career grand slam and first since a walk-off grand slam against Seattle’s Yoervis Medina on April 18, 2014.

Winless in his previous four starts since July 7 at Toronto, Severino (15-5) allowed two of his three runs in the first inning and seven hits in seven innings. The righthander struck out eight without a walk.

Jose Abreu, who drove in all three Chicago runs on Tuesday, had an RBI double, but the White Sox were swept at home by the Yankees for the first time since May 2002.

Rafael Devers hit a two-run homer in his return from the disabled list, Xander Bogaerts had three RBIs, and Brian Johnson pitched seven innings as Boston won 10-5 at Toronto.

Johnson (3-3) allowed five runs, six hits and two walks while striking out six in winning his second straight start. Boston have won the first two games of the three-game series, six in a row overall.

Randal Grichuk hit a three-run homer for the Blue Jays, and Teoscar Hernandez added a two-run shot.

Francisco Lindor hit a three-run, walkoff home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give Cleveland a 5-2 victory over visiting Minnesota.

Lindor lined the first pitch from reliever Trevor Hildenberger (2-3) down the right field line for his 29th homer of the season, driving in Jason Kipnis and Brandon Guyer, who had both singled earlier in the inning.