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Garcia trying to show he belongs as White Sox batter Indians

Less than a week into the season, a growing throng of Chicago White Sox fans took to their favorite venting stations on social media and demanded the plug be pulled on Avisail Garcia.

With one big swing of the bat, Garcia silenced all of the critics, at least until his next 0-for-4.

"It's always big because we've been working hard to improve, and to do it in the season," Garcia said after his 3-run homer in the seventh inning Saturday at frigid U.S. Cellular Field lifted the Sox to a 7-3 win over the Indians. "I just have to do my best to help the team win."

Shifted from right field to primary designated hitter after Adam LaRoche retired last month, Garcia had a big spring, batting .361 in the Cactus League while tying for the club lead with 5 home runs and leading the White Sox with 19 RBI.

But when the regular season opened at Oakland last Monday, the light went off.

Before going 2-for-4 and hitting his first homer of the season Saturday, Garcia was 2-for-17 with no homers and no RBI.

Early, yes, but the pressure was clearly building.

Manager Robin Ventura said a somewhat simple adjustment can help Garcia stay in the Sox's lineup and hit even more big home runs this season.

"That's part of shortening him up and not having such a big swing," Ventura said. "He's so strong that it doesn't need to be a real big swing for him to get it over the fence or something in the gap. He's a strong kid. He'll shorten up and put the barrel on it and learn some leverage that goes with it.

"You can have some stuff jump like that without using your whole body and swinging kind of a wild swing."

Speaking of wild swings, the White Sox appeared to be in great shape Saturday with a 2-0 lead and Chris Sale on the mound heading into the sixth inning.

After getting the first 2 outs in the sixth and stretching his string to 12 retired Cleveland hitters in a row, Francisco Lindor singled off Sale and Mike Napoli followed with a 2-run homer to tie it.

"First pitch changeup," Sale said. "Just left it up, big strong dude."

In the seventh inning, Sale (2-0) gave off a leadoff home run to Yan Gomes and the Indians were ahead 3-2.

"A two-seamer down," Sale said. "I was trying to get it down and I didn't do that enough. That kind of stuff is going to happen. You have to roll with it and figure out a way to be better."

In the bottom of the seventh, the White Sox answered back with 5 runs off Cleveland reliever Bryan Shaw, highlighted by Garcia's 3-run homer on an 0-2 pitch.

Before Garcia came to the plate, Austin Jackson led off with a single and went to third on Jimmy Rollins' double.

After Jose Abreu was intentionally walked, Todd Frazier battled Shaw and delivered a run-scoring fielder's choice groundout before Melky Cabrera put the Sox in front 4-3 with an RBI single.

"Those guys have a lot of experience, and they know how they're going to pitch to them, so I learn," Garcia said. "The way they're going to pitch them is the way they're going to pitch me. I try to see the ball and hit the ball and don't try to do too much."

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