Viciedo’s offense sparks White Sox past Brewers
The White Sox entered Saturday night’s interleague game against the Brewers with a 7-12 record in June, tying them with the Seattle Mariners as the American League’s worst team of the month.
Blame injuries to starting pitchers John Danks and Philip Humber, a rough stretch for Gavin Floyd and inconsistent efforts from Will Ohman and the rest of the Sox’ bullpen.
But the White Sox shot to the top of the AL Central in May on the strength of the offense, and the bats suddenly went cold in June.
Batting .238 for the month, the Sox needed somebody — anybody — to step up following Friday night’s 1-0 loss to Zack Greinke and Milwaukee.
Dayan Viciedo, among others, answered the call.
Batting just .132 in June with 1 extra-base hit, Viciedo finally snapped out of it in the White Sox’ 8-6 victory in front of 30,337 at U.S. Cellular Field.
“It has been a really tough month,” Viciedo said through a translator. “But as far as that affecting my confidence, it doesn’t. You have to keep going at it and keep practicing and at some point it will turn around.”
Viciedo was 3-for-4, his 2-run homer off Milwaukee starter Randy Wolf putting the Sox in front 4-2 in the fourth inning. The left fielder also delivered RBI singles in the second and sixth innings.
“It feels great,” Viciedo said. “I was a lot calmer at the plate and so just being a lot calmer, things came easier.”
It was a big win for the White Sox, a needed win. But it was not easy.
Stepping into the rotation for the injured Humber (elbow flexor strain), Dylan Axelrod was about as good as can be expected. The right-hander worked 5 innings and allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits while throwing 103 pitches.
“It was decent,” said Axelrod, who was helped by a great running catch from center fielder Brent Lillibridge in the fifth inning. “I had opportunities to get through innings unscathed, and I just need to bear down in those situations.
“It’s a different game here. You have to make quality pitches to every hitter.”
Axelrod and Ohman combined to yield 3 runs in the sixth as the Brewers jumped out to a 6-4 lead.
But the White Sox’ offense answered right back in the bottom of the inning, tying the game on Viciedo’s run-scoring single and an RBI double from Orlando Hudson.
Alex Rios’ run-scoring single in the seventh scored Gordon Beckham with the deciding run.
“I really thought we battled well,” said Beckham, who was 3-for-5 with an RBI. “We didn’t quit, and that’s good because it’s been a rough go over the last week-and-a-half.
“We showed that we’re still in it, we’re still fighting the right way. That game was not easy. It felt like we kept clawing ourselves out, clawing ourselves out, and we came out on top.”
sgregor@dailyherald.com