CHICAGO – With Tim Anderson holding an 11-percentage-point lead in the race for the American League batting title, it would now seem safe for the White Sox shortstop to acknowledge the numbers.

But even after extending his season-high hitting streak to 12 games with a four-hit performance in the White Sox 8-3 victory over the Indians on Wednesday at Guaranteed Rate Field, Anderson didn’t want to jinx his potentially amazing accomplishment.

“No,” Anderson said with a wry smile. “I ain’t done yet.”

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“You are going to have moments in which you feel really, really good with what you're doing,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “And for him, right now, he's certainly locked in. No one can deny that. And hopefully, this continues to run to the end.”

Anderson produced his sixth four-hit game of the season, which leads the Majors. He was hitting .309 as of July 31, but over the past 48 games, covering 212 at-bats, Anderson has hit .377 and raised his Major League-best average to .339. There have been exactly three days this season, from March 28-30, during which Anderson’s average wasn’t at .300 or higher.

After hitting .240 in 2018, Anderson has incredibly raised his average almost 100 points in one season. If he wins the batting title, Anderson would join Frank Thomas (.347 in 1997) and Luke Appling (.388 in 1936 and .328 in ‘43) as the only White Sox to accomplish the feat. The Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu is second in the AL at .328.

When asked for the biggest overriding change in his offensive success, Anderson turned to becoming more upright in his batting stance as opposed to the crouch he hit with previously. It was a change he employed a bit at the end of last season and further refined during offseason work with White Sox hitting coach Todd Steverson.

“Being upright, having coverage to all sides of the plate,” Anderson said of what's changed in his stance. “Being aggressive in the zone and being able to hit every pitch that’s in the zone. I was seeing the ball real well tonight. Everything was clicking for me tonight.”

“I've been playing for what, 12, 13 years now, and guys hitting .340 this late in the season, you never see that,” winning pitcher Ross Detwiler said of Anderson. “It's amazing. Every night he's got multiple hits. You know offensively we're going to be in it just about every night, and he's the catalyst for our team.”

This victory, coupled with Minnesota’s 5-1 win at Detroit, gave the Twins the AL Central title. The White Sox also locked up a season-series victory over the Indians, taking a 10-8 edge with just Thursday’s series finale remaining.

Detwiler earned his first win since Aug. 22 against Texas, yielding three runs over five innings while working with rookie catcher Zack Collins. Welington Castillo’s three-run homer off Indians reliever Tyler Clippard in the seventh gave the White Sox total control of the game.

After hitting a leadoff home run off Indians starter Shane Bieber, Leury Garcia left after four innings with right shoulder soreness. He is day to day. Designated hitter Matt Skole also left in the fifth inning with right abdominal tightness and is day to day, as well.

Three of Anderson’s four singles came off of Bieber, who is certain to get some consideration for the AL Cy Young Award based on his breakout campaign. Anderson knew he was going to have to hit offspeed pitches Wednesday and was able to stay back and poke a couple into right.

It’s all part of the turnaround for the soon-to-be AL batting champion, even if Anderson is not quite ready to acknowledge the achievement.

“As he continues to grow as a hitter, we'll take everything he can give us,” Renteria said. “He’s focused, he's learning, he's still growing. He's a young Major League player who's basically been cutting his chops at the big league level.”

“My game is coming together, but I have to continue to work. Keep getting better,” said Anderson, adding there are “a bunch of guys” on the White Sox having pretty good years. “Just seeing where I was a couple of years ago to where I am now, I put the work in, and it’s showing. It’s showing.”