White Sox revert to old form, snap six-game losing streak
The White Sox kept saying all the right things during a six-game losing streak that seemed to have dozens of miserable moments.
They had little doubt they could regroup and start playing like they were a little over a week ago, when they became the first team in the American League to clinch a playoff spot.
The Sox were confident the big bats would start booming, and the leaky bullpen would patch itself up.
"I get all the frustration that's going on in terms of the point and time which we are at," manager Rick Renteria said Saturday before serving his one-game suspension. "We just have to get our offense going again. We have to minimize the damage from the other side. It's really as simple as that. We have to get the line moving again and if that starts to happen, you see the guys and what they are capable of doing."
The White Sox turned the talk into action in a 9-5 win over the Cubs at Guaranteed Rate Field Saturday night.
If they win again Sunday and the Twins lose, the Sox are the AL Central champions. If they lose to the Cubs in the final game of the regular season, the White Sox could open the first round of the playoffs Tuesday on the road.
"I don't really know," third baseman Yoan Moncada said of the multiple postseason scenarios. "All I know is we have to go out and try to win. We have to play the same ball we were playing the whole year."
That play was finally back on display, but the Sox weren't looking so good after falling behind 5-2 when Kris Bryant hit a grand slam off rookie starter Dane Dunning in the third inning.
"I just hung a slider and Kris Bryant put a good swing on it," Dunning said. "That's about it."
The White Sox mounted a rally in the fourth inning against Cubs starter Jon Lester, and they grabbed a 7-5 lead when likely MVP Jose Abreu drove in 3 runs with a bases-loaded double.
Dunning lasted only 3 innings, but the Sox's bullpen held the Cubs scoreless the rest of the way as proven arms like Aaron Bummer, Evan Marshall and Alex Colome pitched well and rookie Garrett Crochet kept on making a great early impression.
The flame-throwing lefty had 3 strikeouts in 2 innings as he continued pumping 100-mph fastballs.
"I'm kind of just tunnel vision right now because it's only been a week," Crochet said. "I really haven't been here that long, so I'm still getting used to a lot of things and still trying to take everything in stride. But when I get out there on the mound, it's all business.
"Looking back on myself as a young baseball player, I was never the guy that threw hard and now I do, so it's pretty cool. But just really the thing that I'm out there doing is trying to throw with conviction and throw through the mitt, and it's kind of gone hand-in-hand with throwing hard right now."