White Sox relocate the power switch
The White Sox are fixed.
At least for one game, they went back to being serious contenders instead of the serious overachievers who lost five straight and were destined to sink back down in the AL Central standings.
Before the Sox defeated the Twins 7-4 in front of a half-price night crowd of 37,788 Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field, the starting rotation was too beat up, the offense was too inconsistent and the bullpen was completely overmatched.
That all changed against Minnesota, at least for a day.
Of course, that is just the outside perception from some followers who often forget how long the season is.
Inside the White Sox' clubhouse before the Twins game, you couldn't tell if they had lost five in a row or won 10 straight.
“The weekend (at Detroit) didn't go the way we wanted it to go, but I think you have to look at if from the standpoint that it's a long season and if we would have found ourselves where we're at right now, the position we're in, that's a pretty good position,” Paul Konerko said before ending his power outage with a 3-run homer off Minnesota starter Francisco Liriano.
“We have a pretty good opportunity to do something, and that's all you look for. I think there are a lot of good signs there, a lot of good positives. Just keep grinding.”
The Sox were outscored 17-7 while being swept by the Tigers and losing their hold on first place over the weekend.
And during a four-game series at Boston that preceded the Detroit visit, they scored just 3 runs in their 3 losses to the Red Sox.
The bats needed to get going, and the White Sox feasted off Liriano while scoring all 7 runs in the first three innings.
After Konerko hit his first home run since June 29 in the first inning, Adam Dunn hit a 2-run homer and Alex Rios added a solo blast in the third.
“You've heard it a thousand times, hitting is contagious,” Dunn said. “Hopefully it carries over, but you're not guaranteed anything. That guy on the mound tomorrow is going to try and do his best for that not to happen. He's probably got kids to feed too, so he's going to do his best.”
Gavin Floyd was on the mound for the Sox on Monday after coming off the disabled list with elbow tendinitis.
The right-hander was about as good as could be expected, allowing 2 earned runs on 6 hits in 6 innings. In his first start since July 7, Floyd was a bit rusty, issuing 6 walks.
“I was glad to get back out there,” Floyd said. “I didn't have my breaking ball, but my stuff was there and the team played very well for me.”
The Twins grounded into 5 double plays, 4 when Floyd was in the game.
“For taking time off and coming back, I don't think his curveball was as sharp as it was previously,” manager Robin Ventura said of Floyd. “But it was a good effort to be able to use the defense and keep them out of range.”