The Chicago White Sox scored six runs over their last three games entering Thursday.
They looked more like the team many had projected in the series finale against the Kansas City Royals, rallying for a 7-4 victory in front of 11,784 at Kauffman Stadium.
Luis Robert had three hits, including a two-run homer, and four RBIs. Tim Anderson singled twice, walked twice, stole two bases and drove in two. And Adam Engel had a crucial pinch-hit RBI single as the Sox returned to .500 (19-19) while taking three of five in the series.
“We work to produce a lot of runs every day, but that’s how the game is — you don’t always produce as (many) runs as you want,” Robert said through an interpreter. “You don’t always pitch as good as you want to. You don’t always play defense as good as you want to. That’s baseball.
“Today was a good day for us. We were able to produce, to get the big hits in the big moments, and that helped us to win this game.”
The Sox had a season-high 14 hits, including 13 singles. It was their most singles in a game since compiling 15 on Aug. 24, 2021, at Toronto.
“I thought we were on more pitches,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “We chased a few breaking balls, but overall we did a better job (on) two strikes (of putting) the ball in play. We worked the at-bats better.
“There were times we hit the ball hard and didn’t have a hit to show for it. But overall, I thought every guy that went to the plate was working.”
Before the game, La Russa addressed criticism hitting coaches Frank Menechino and Howie Clark have received from pundits and fans.
“If you coach or manage in the big leagues and if somebody points a finger at you and that bothers you, you’re doing the wrong thing for a living,” he said. “And if you coach, you should be able to absorb the hits instead of having a player or some players be targeted.
“But I’m in the cage a lot, the players know, they’ll tell you, the messages that they’re getting, whether it’s strategy or mechanical from both of those guys is sound. They’re just not executing.”
The execution emerged as the game unfolded.
The Sox trailed 3-0 after two innings. They scored once in the third as Anderson walked, stole second and third and scored on a Robert single. The Sox loaded the bases but didn’t score any more runs in the inning.
The Sox loaded the bases again in the fourth with no outs. Anderson came through with a two-run single, putting the Sox within 4-3.
“Just really trying to beat you at all angles,” Anderson said. “Being able to play both sides of the ball and giving us a chance to win and giving others a chance to get RBIs and get bags and whatever the case is. Just putting us in the best position to be successful.”
The Sox tied the game on a Robert RBI single in the sixth and went ahead an inning later when Engel came off the bench and drove in AJ Pollock with a one-out single.
“I’m trying to get a pitch over the plate, put a good swing on it,” Engel said. “Guys are on first and third, in a good situation there. Just had to put the ball in play, try to keep it up the middle the best that I can. In order to do that, just look for a pitch over the plate and try to not do too much.”
Robert connected on an 0-2 slider from Dylan Coleman for the two-run homer in the eighth to create some distance.
“I was just trying to not strike out,” Robert said. “(Wednesday) night was a difficult game for me (0-for-4 with three strikeouts). The at-bats (Thursday) weren’t easy either.
“I got that at-bat. I was just trying to put the ball in play. I charged earlier in that pitch because I was expecting a fastball. He made a mistake and I took advantage of it.”
The Sox will try to carry the positives into the weekend series against the Yankees in New York.
“We are pretty close to being the team that we all know that we can be,” Robert said. “Every team has some struggles sometimes. But … we are pretty close to being that good team that we hope we could be.”
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