White Sox relish runs revival to bust slump

CHICAGO -- Seven games and 12 days had passed since the last White Sox win. During that slide, weather cancelled three contests and opponents outscored Chicago 61-16.
Monday's opener against the Mariners was different, though. The White Sox jumped all over Mike Leake for seven consecutive hits to open the game -- becoming the first team to accomplish such a feat since the Rockies on Sept. 17, 2014 -- and chased him after just 3 1/3 innings en route to a 10-4 romp of Seattle.
"It's a pick-me-up," Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. "Winning heals a lot of different things, especially with the run that we've had. I thought it was more than the win, I thought it was the way we played. In general, it was a pretty clean ballgame."
Yoán Moncada led the way, completing the hardest three-fourths of a cycle through the first four innings. He tripled in the first, doubled in the second and homered in the fourth. Moncada struck out looking in the fifth and flied out to left in the seventh, though, unable to finish it off.

Not to be outdone, however, José Abreu went 4-for-4 with two solo home runs, his fifth and sixth of the season.
"That's our goal to have big games together for this team," Moncada said through team interpreter Billy Russo. "Having the opportunity to play with Abreu, 'The Big Elephant' as we call him in Cuba, it's good for me. It's a big honor. I feel really happy when we have these kinds of games."
Additionally, every White Sox starter tallied a hit and five recorded multiple hits. Leake finished the night after allowing eight runs on 12 hits.
Starting pitching, which had plagued the White Sox throughout their losing streak, did not bug Chicago on Monday, as Carson Fulmer gave the White Sox their second solid start in as many days. Fulmer turned in his best outing of the young season, allowing just a two-run homer in six innings.

At one point, Fulmer retired 11 consecutive batters. He faced just 10 total hitters in his last start, against Oakland.
"I'm not a very mechanical pitcher," Fulmer said. "I rely on my confidence, I rely on my competitiveness. I challenge guys to hit the first, second and third pitch. For me and for pitchers to get deep into ballgames, you have to do that."
The only thing to put a damper on the White Sox night came in the second inning, when Avisaíl García came up lame running out a ground ball to third. He exited with a right hamstring strain and was replaced by Trayce Thompson, who went 1-for-3.
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SOUND SMART
The White Sox scored 10 or more runs for the third time this season, also achieving the feat on Opening Day and last week at Oakland. They are 2-1 in such games.
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The White Sox turned quite the quizzical double play in the seventh inning. With Ben Gamel batting and runners on second and first, reliever Chris Beck bounced a pitch to the backstop. However, as the Mariners' runners prepared to advance, the pitch caromed directly back to catcher Welington Castillo, who threw to first to initiate a rundown.
Eventually, both runners ended up standing on second base. Initially, only Mike Zunino was thought to be ruled out, but Daniel Vogelbach, the lead runner who was entitled to the base, walked off the field. The umpires conferred for a few minutes before declaring Vogelbach was also out, giving Beck a much-needed escape from the inning.

UP NEXT
Following Monday's win, the White Sox announced Chris Volstad would start Tuesday's 4:10 p.m. CT game vs. the Mariners. Seattle will counter with Marco Gonzales (1-2, 5.94 ERA).