SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The White Sox bookended their six-game road trip with wins, and now they’ll enjoy a day off Thursday before beginning a lengthy 10-game homestand.
Korey Lee hit a tiebreaking two-run single that highlighted a four-run ninth inning, as Chicago snapped a four-game skid with a 6-2 win over the Giants in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon. The White Sox began their trip with a win over the Astros in Houston then lost the next four before Wednesday’s victory.
Chicago is 31-97 and opens a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday night. The White Sox will be at home all the way through Sunday, Sept. 1, the day before Labor Day.
Sizemore pleased
With Wednesday’s game tied 2-2 going into the top of the ninth, Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi drew consecutive walks off Erik Miller (3-4) with one out.
After Andrew Vaughn reached on an infield single, Miller struck out Gavin Sheets. Then, Lee singled on a 2-2 fastball from Spencer Bivens, giving the White Sox a 4-2 lead.
“I knew they were going to be aggressive to me,” Lee said. “Staying through the middle is the name of the game in that at-bat. Every win is fantastic, but something like this is even better.
“We continued to fight. We weren’t out of the game, ever.”
Lenyn Sosa followed Lee’s big hit with another two-run single to extend the lead to four runs.
Fraser Ellard (1-1) retired three batters in the bottom of the eighth to earn the win, and John Brebbia pitched a scoreless ninth to closed it out.
Robert and Sheets had two hits apiece and Vaughn added two RBI, as MLB-worst Chicago won for just the third time in nine games.
But White Sox manager Grady Sizemore, who took over when Pedro Grifol was fired earlier this month, is pleased with the way his club is playing lately.
“I just like the way guys are playing,” Sizemore said. “It’s tough when you’re having a rough season and things aren’t going your way. To see these guys keep competing and not just fold and give in, they’re showing a lot of fight, they’re showing a lot of heart.”
White Sox leadoff hitter Nicky Lopez tripled off the wall in center field to begin the game and scored on Benintendi’s groundout.
After a sacrifice fly by Vaughn in the fourth inning made it 2-0, the Giants tied it in the bottom of the inning with two runs off White Sox starter Garrett Chrochet.
San Francisco’s Jerar Encarnación and Thairo Estrada drove in the runs off Crochet in the fourth.
Crochet allowed two runs and four hits in four innings, striking out four and walking one.
“He was really sharp today,” Sizemore said. “A couple good hits by (the) two guys in the middle of the order, but other than that he was lights out. He was really good.”
Up next
Following an off day, RHP Chris Flexen (2-12, 5.46 ERA) faces the Tigers on Friday. The White Sox have lost each of Flexen’s previous 18 starts.
First pitch at Guaranteed Rate Field is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.