Sox slug trio of blasts to back Rodon in win

CHICAGO -- The White Sox dialed long distance during their 7-3 victory over the Twins on Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field. It's a number they've used quite frequently of late.
Nicky Delmonico, Tim Anderson and Adam Engel homered in the team's sixth victory over its last eight games. Delmonico homered for a second straight game and has homered in four games out of his last six played. Anderson matched his home run total from last season at 17, and Engel broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth by going deep on an 0-2 pitch from Kyle Gibson. The White Sox scored five in the fifth to knock out Gibson, with Matt Davidson adding a two-run single.

Over their last 42 games, the White Sox have hit 63 home runs. They have gone deep in 14 straight, totaling 23 during that stretch.
This power prowess has given their new home run chain a workout. The item was developed by Dale Torborg, the organization's Minor League conditioning coordinator, during Spring Training and just arrived recently, per Delmonico.
"Every homer. Whoever homers gets to wear it," said Delmonico of the chain, which features a large White Sox logo. "It's cool. And it's heavy. But it's a cool little thing we got going on."

"Today, a lot of great at-bats up and down the lineup," White Sox bench coach and acting manager Joe McEwing said. "Up and down I thought we did an outstanding job of grinding each moment out and allowing the pitcher to continue to work. A lot of quality at-bats, a lot of two-strike at-bats where they continued to battle and came away with some hits, which is tough to do."
Carlos Rodón took advantage of the run support, and since the start of July has not needed much support to garner a victory. Rodon yielded a two-run homer to Jorge Polanco in the first when the southpaw was searching a bit for his command, but gave up nothing more over the next five innings.

He exited after 106 pitches, of which 58 went for strikes, striking out five and walking three. In Rodon's last eight starts, he has yielded 30 hits and 11 earned runs in 56 2/3 innings, while striking out 47, walking 23 and giving up three home runs.
"After that [first inning], it seemed like a pretty decent start," Rodon said. "Had some good at-bats, bit on some good sliders. Seemed like I got 0-2 and they'd work the count to full. I'd get an out out of it but still making my pitch count go up. It was a battle today. Like I always say, give the team a chance to win, and came out with a win today.
"Just knowing it's going to show up, you've got to be patient sometimes, the first two innings if it's not quite there. I'd like to get it started earlier and not have any of those blips early on and just cruise through the game. But it doesn't always go that way."
It has been ace-like work from Rodon for almost two months. With Michael Kopech's Major League debut mixed in from Tuesday, the White Sox now have a greater regular glimpse of their exciting future and some new energy in the present.
"We've picked it up offensively," Delmonico said. "And you know, our pitching has been really good and I feel like we've been playing good defense. It's all clicking right now."

"Definitely fun to see some new faces," Rodon said. "Last night was pretty exciting, pretty loud out there, loudest it's been in a while. Unfortunately, it got cut short because of the rain, but looking forward to seeing his start in Detroit this Sunday."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Right place, right time: Rodon had allowed two runs in the first and walked Miguel Sanó and Tyler Austin with one out. Mitch Garver followed with a line drive up the middle that came off the bat with a 102 mph exit velocity, per Statcast™. The ball was hit right at second baseman Yoán Moncada, who turned it into an inning-ending double play.

"Got lucky with the ball up the middle for the double play," Rodon said. "Got out of the inning and just tried to go as long as I could after that."
RENTERIA UPDATE
McEwing wasn't quite sure if White Sox manager Rick Renteria would be joining the team for Thursday afternoon's series opener in Detroit. Renteria was released from a hospital in Minneapolis late Tuesday afternoon after undergoing a battery of tests for an episode of lightheadedness prior to Monday night's game. He spent the night in Minnesota before returning to Chicago on Wednesday where he was scheduled for further testing at RUSH University Medical Center under the supervision of Dr. Scott Palmer.
"He said he feels great and hopefully he'll join us soon. It was very short, but it's great news," said McEwing of his contact with Renteria on Wednesday. "It brings a smile to my face to hear that he feels good and hopefully he will be joining us soon."
Renteria passed along kudos to McEwing for the victory Wednesday during their brief text exchange.
"Yes he did. He said way to go, way to go in typical Ricky form," McEwing said. "It brings a smile to all our faces."
HE SAID IT
"What did I walk? Two? Tried to clear that inning out of my head, that's why I'm not remembering it too well." -- Rodon, on the slow start in the first, followed by five innings of one-hit baseball
UP NEXT
Right-hander James Shields (4-15, 4.39 ERA) is scheduled to make his 28th appearance (27th start) of the season and fourth start against the Tigers in a Thursday day game at Comerica Park with a 12:10 CT first pitch. Matthew Boyd starts for Detroit. It will be career start No. 399 for Shields, who is 0-7 with a 5.73 ERA over his last 10 road games (nine starts) and earned his last road victory on Opening Day at Kansas City.