The White Sox found their offense and snapped a five-game losing skid in a 4-3 victory over the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park.
“You gotta win,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “Sometimes you’re getting beat where it’s hard to win one. But this was work ball. Our guys really worked, coaches worked, but the players really worked to get this win.”
The White Sox had been struggling at the plate, hitting .176/.243/.264 over their past five games. However, Chicago came out with a different intensity in the box, sparked first by Leury García. In the top of the second, García stepped to the plate, and on the first pitch, he hit a 402-foot blast for his first home run of the season to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead. With the victory, the Sox improved to 38-9 when homering this season.
“It was a tough win,” García said. “For us to get out of that, we knew it would take something like this. We were able to put it all together today, play good baseball, and take this win.”
Following García’s home run, Luis González hit a line-drive double into left field for his first Major League hit. This set up Tim Anderson for a double to bring in González and cap off a two-run second inning. On his birthday, Anderson made his presence felt with a 2-for-5 performance and his third straight birthday game with an RBI.
Despite their rough five-game stretch, the White Sox are still ranked as the 11th-best offense in the Majors. They are hitting .250/.333/.399 with a .732 OPS.
“I think we’re celebrating Tim’s birthday, they were talking about it before the game, during the game and after the game,” said La Russa. “You get a day off tomorrow, so you get to enjoy it. If you had to pick one of the five to win, I guess you pick this one. It’s all ahead of us, so enjoy it and get ready for the homestand.”
To go along with Chicago’s offensive surge, Dylan Cease took the mound and delivered a solid 5 2/3-inning performance. Through the first two innings, Cease was firing on all cylinders and collected four strikeouts. However, in the bottom of the third, Michael Perez hit a leadoff single into center field, which sparked the Pirates’ two-run rally to tie the game at 2.
“Sometimes you’re gonna have a pitch that plays a little bit better in one day as opposed to another, but for the most part, I’m very confident,” said Cease. “They got seven hits off me, so they were still putting the ball in play, but my stuff was able to play pretty well.”
Cease didn’t have his cleanest outing of the season, committing a pair of errors in that third frame, but he found his spots and allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and one walk with seven strikeouts.
“Anytime you can help the team get a win, it’s why I’m here. It’s not just all me. Between our defense or offense, I’m just happy to be able to do my part, and my team showed up too,” said Cease.
Coming into Wednesday’s matchup, Chicago’s bullpen had struggled with a 5.71 ERA and a .304 opponents’ average over the team’s five-game skid.
Ryan Burr replaced Cease in the bottom of the sixth. On a combined effort from Burr, Codi Heuer, Aaron Bummer and closer Liam Hendriks, Chicago’s bullpen held the Pirates to three hits, one run and four strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings.
“It feels like every guy out there sits 98,” said Cease. “Obviously I want to stay in as long as I can, but you know, we got some guys out there. Their stuff is electric.”
Hendriks came into the game in the ninth and delivered once again with a three-up, three-down inning to end the game. Hendriks ranks first in the AL with 19 saves this season.
“You see just how special Liam is and a true closer. Shut-down closer. That was a much-needed win, and [getting] the win for our starting pitcher was just outstanding,” said La Russa.
