White Sox’ patient approach leads to win

It’s all in the approach.

That’s what White Sox manager Robin Ventura was saying before Thursday night’s game against the Angels, and his words proved to be prophetic.

“You can have all the mechanics and everything else,” Ventura told reporters. “It’s pitch selection, what you’re trying to do and how you’re swinging. Once you get the mechanics down and they have that confidence they’re doing the right thing, then it’s about pitch selection.

“Eventually, you want everybody to get there, where you’re concerned about pitch selection than mechanics.”

Heading into the game, the Sox and the Kansas City Royals were tied for last in the American League with 88 walks. The White Sox also ranked seventh in the league with 313 strikeouts.

Thanks to the patient approach, the Sox beat Los Angeles 5-4 at Angel Stadium, running their winning streak to three games.

Actually, the White Sox walked their way to the latest victory.

Trailing 4-2 in the eighth inning, the Sox took advantage of some continued poor defensive play by Los Angeles to tie the game.

Alejandro De Aza opened the eighth with a single off Angels reliever Dane De La Rosa (1-1), and Alexei Ramirez followed with another single.

De Aza moved to third base on the hit, and Ramirez was able to advance to second when center fielder Mike Trout made a high throw to the cutoff man.

With Alex Rios at the plate, De Aza scored on a wild pitch, and Adam Dunn continued to hit his way out of an early-season slump, singling home Ramirez to pull the White Sox into a 4-4 tie.

That’s when the patience came into play.

Michael Kohn relieved De La Rosa and got Paul Konerko on a grounder back to the mound.

But Kohn walked Conor Gillaspie and Dayan Viciedo to load the bases, and Jeff Keppinger followed with his first walk of the season (in 141 plate appearances) to score Dunn with the deciding run.

Jesse Crain pitched around a one-out double in the eighth inning and local boy Addison Reed retired the Angels in order in the ninth to earn his 13th save in 14 tries.

All in all, it was a good win over a struggling L.A. team that fell to 15-26.

And while drawing walks is a good sign, the Sox’ offense continues to emerge from some early-season doldrums.

After going 4-for-11 with 3 home runs and 6 RBI in the three-game series at Minnesota, Dunn was 2-for-4 with an RBI on Thursday night. The recent surge has raised the left-hander slugger’s batting average from .137 to .167.

Alex Rios also stayed hot, the right fielder’s solo home run in the fourth inning off Los Angeles starter Jerome Williams extending his hitting streak to 11 games while giving the Sox the early lead.

sgregor@dailyherald.com