Bats boom again as White Sox win second straight over Guardians

Are the White Sox beginning to power up?

In desperate need of a positive charge during the entire month of April and much of early May, the Sox were energized by Gavin Sheets' 3-run homer, Jake Burger's 2-run shot and Luis Robert's solo home run in Tuesday night's series opener against the Guardians, an 8-3 win.

"I just think it reminds us how good we can be," manager Pedro Grifol said. "Other than that, we played a good baseball game. There were some really good things which creates some momentum for a club, right? We've just got to keep that momentum going here.

"Overall, we put it together today in all facets of the game. Another good ballgame."

In a 7-2 win over Cleveland Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field, the White Sox's bats stayed on the blast setting.

Robert failed to homer in his fifth straight game, which would have tied the Sox's franchise record.

But Sheets and Andrew Vaughn picked up Robert with solo home runs off Guardians starter Peyton Battenfield, and Burger continued his home cooking with a 2-run shot.

Burger has 10 homers in only 26 games and 9 have been hit at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The White Sox still have a dismal 16-28 record after back-to-back wins over Cleveland, but they aren't calling it quits just yet.

"You know, it's like we always say, you have to put in the work and go day by day, the results will come," said Burger, who also singled and tripled. "The talent is in here and the work is in here. We work as hard as we can. It's kind of how we take it. Not trying to put too much pressure on ourselves but have the urgency to go out and play as hard as we can."

Sheets was ejected in the seventh inning by home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna after taking a called third strike that was well below the zone. The right fielder was also called out on strikes Tuesday.

"First time in the big leagues," Sheets said of being tossed. "It was just a buildup of things. They've got an extremely difficult job, but I have to protect myself, too."

Much like Lance Lynn in the opener, Mike Clevinger was sharp in his start for the Sox Wednesday.

While he was in trouble much of the night, including leaving the bases loaded with no outs in the seventh before being pulled, Clevinger limited the Guardians to 2 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks over 6 innings.

"It feels good," Clevinger said. "It feels like we're having all our games come together, hitting, pitching, defense. Earlier in the year, it was kind of like one or the other was off and the other two were there. So now it feels good to have the complete package."

Playing without their top two hitters - Jose Ramirez (bereavement list) and Josh Naylor (left leg tightness) - Cleveland was 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

The White Sox are positioned for their first sweep of the season Thursday afternoon.

"We have the pieces," Clevinger said. "It's finally fun to watch it coming together."