'Our hope is up, our confidence is up': White Sox rally for 5th straight win

BOSTON -- April disappointment has been completely replaced by May success for the White Sox.

Take a 3-1 victory in 10 innings over the Red Sox at a chilly Fenway Park Saturday, as an example. This same game played one week ago probably would have resulted in a 1-0 loss, which was the Red Sox’s advantage entering the ninth.

But this current version of the White Sox looks more like a team expected to, at the very least, contend for its second straight American League Central title. Chicago pushed across one run in the top of the ninth to tie the contest, held off a Boston game-winning rally in the bottom half and scored two in extra innings to claim its fifth straight win and fourth straight on the road.

Liam Hendriks has saves in all five victories, giving him nine overall this season for a team returning to .500 at 13-13. There were numerous heroes in this one aside from the veteran closer.

“There were so many key moments because it was such a close game,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “The biggest impression I got was we really worked to win that game. They did too, but we were really working to win and we got rewarded.

“All game long we kept trying to push and the guy was shutting us out. We kept pushing and that late rally and the team was rewarded for trying so hard. It makes it extra special.”

For six innings, Boston starter Nick Pivetta was “the guy” who shut down the White Sox offense still not exactly clicking on all cylinders. He set a season high in innings pitched and had eight strikeouts.

Dylan Cease matched Pivetta for the White Sox, giving up one run in five innings while striking out eight and walking three. Cease has yielded three earned runs on seven hits in his last 18 innings, to go with 28 strikeouts. The White Sox are 5-1 in his starts this season, but Saturday’s victory took some effort.

“It was one of those games you need to battle,” said Cease, who threw 101 pitches in a start where the Red Sox hitters battled throughout. “To do it late shows we didn’t give up and we fought to the end and got it done.”

Jake Burger drew a leadoff walk from Hansel Robles in the ninth and moved to third on a double down the left-field line from Adam Engel, who had struck out three times before that at-bat. Leury García followed with a game-tying sacrifice fly.

Engel’s double left La Russa a bit animated during his postgame media session.

“How about Engel? He strikes out three times and what does he do in the ninth? Bam!!!” La Russa said. “He wasn’t out there down, ‘I’m having a bad day.’ He collected himself. There were so many things that happened.”

Boston put the winning run on third in Jackie Bradley Jr. with one out in the ninth, with Bradley Jr. getting there via his single and Christian Vázquez’s double. Bradley Jr. was not sent home, though, as center fielder Luis Robert cut off the drive toward left-center before it could roll to the wall.

“As soon as I saw the ball hit, I knew it was a fast runner on first,” said Robert through interpreter and bench coach Miguel Cairo. “So I did my best to get to the ball and get it back to the field.”

Reynaldo López, who benefitted from Robert’s defense, struck out Bobby Dalbec on four pitches and retired Trevor Story on a routine popup to send the game to extra innings. José Abreu’s double and Robert’s single produced the needed two runs in the 10th.

“This kind of game, that’s what we need to get our confidence up,” Robert said. “We had a really rough April and to win this kind of game gives us hope. Our hope is up, our confidence is up. Everything is up.”

“In April, after a bad month, to win these games, playing the way we have been playing with pitching, defense, hitting at the right moment, it’s something we need as a team,” said López through Cairo.

The White Sox claimed their first extra-inning victory this season and their first win when trailing after eight innings, previously being 0-10. It was a victory reinforcing what La Russa knew all along about his crew: April was not representative of what this team could accomplish.

“Heart, guts, talent,” La Russa said. “The problem is we are playing other teams that have heart, guts and talent. Our part, we’ll take care of that.”