'He's not panicking': Robert secures Sox win with go-ahead HR

CINCINNATI -- Now back to full health, Luis Robert Jr.’s season seems to be turning a corner.

White Sox manager Pedro Grifol benched his star center fielder on Saturday for a perceived lack of hustle running out a ground ball, which Robert later revealed was related to a tight hamstring.

But after the injury relegated him to pinch-hit duties on Sunday, Robert has done nothing but rake. He’s reached base in 9 of his 18 plate appearances since, capped off by a 3-for-4 outing with the go-ahead homer in Friday’s 5-4 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park.

“[He’s] just doing Robert things,” said second baseman Elvis Andrus, who got Chicago on the board with a three-run homer in the fifth. “We expect that every single night pretty much. The whole organization and the whole fanbase is expecting that, he’s that good. He kind of went a few weeks battling offensively, but I love his mindset. He’s not panicking. He knows that it’s a long season. He just wants to be healthy actually, and he knows a couple of good weeks and he’s back on track.”

The White Sox expected Robert to be a catalyst, but his hot streak is even more welcome after his slow start to the year. During Chicago’s 10-game losing streak at the end of April, Robert picked up just four hits, which dropped his slash line to .213/.248/.407.

Less than a week later, he’s back up to a much more respectable .236/.288/.463 with seven home runs, which is tied for the team lead.

“I can’t stress this enough every time we talk about this,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “You’re going to go through stretches like this. It just so happened that he went through this at the beginning of the season. But everybody goes through this at some point. It’s 11 games. He’s performed in the past, he’s going to perform again, he’s an extremely talented individual that can show all five tools in one game at any time.”

It wasn’t just his bat -- Robert’s defense also came up huge in the ninth. With a runner on first and no outs, he made a running catch in right-center field and threw out Jake Fraley before he could tag up.

Robert showed on Friday that he has the potential to be one of the game’s most special players in every facet of the game when he’s back in a groove, and the White Sox have faith.

“He’s putting the work in,” Grifol said. “He’s in a good spot. He went through a stretch, and everybody goes through that. You don’t even have to be in baseball to go through stretches like that in real life, let alone in this tough game. I think he’ll be fine.”