Navarro, Chicago White Sox roll to sixth straight win
After signing a one-year, $4 million contract with the Chicago White Sox on Dec. 4, Dioner Navarro sounded like he was ready to put on the catching gear.
"I just want to play, that's the bottom line," Navarro said. "That was one of my issues last year. I was really happy with the team I was on, but I wasn't playing much."
Navarro played for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015, but he was stuck behind Russell Martin and appeared in just 54 games (44 starts).
With the Sox, Navarro was splitting time with Alex Avila over the first three weeks of the season.
When Avila injured his right hamstring running to second base Saturday against Texas and landed on the 15-day disabled list, Navarro got his chance to play for an extended period for the red-hot White Sox.
The 32-year-old catcher is making the most of the opportunity.
In Wednesday night's 4-0 victory at Toronto, Navarro made his fourth straight start and came through again.
A night after hitting a 2-run homer in the Sox's 10-1 romp over the Blue Jays, Navarro delivered a 2-run triple in the seventh inning to snap a scoreless tie.
"Yeah, no doubt," Navarro said on the Comcast SportsNet postgame show when asked if regular playing time helps him at the plate. "Hitting is all about repetition. The more you play the better you're going to feel at the plate. Unfortunately, Alex went down. It's up to me to step up and try to help this team win more games."
The White Sox, who have the American League's best record at 16-6, swept the three-game series from Toronto and have won six straight. They have outscored the Rangers and Blue Jays, who both made the playoffs last year, 34-10 during the surge.
Jose Quintana (3-1) delivered another strong start for the Sox, pitching 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and striking out 10. The left-hander lowered his ERA to 1.47.
"Unbelievable, man," Navarro said. "This guy was throwing a lot of strikes, he was getting ahead with all of his pitches, and he just kept going after hitters."
Before the game, the White Sox sent starting pitcher Miguel Gonzalez back to Class AAA Charlotte.
Gonzalez, signed to a minor-league deal April 3 after bring released by the Baltimore Orioles, made a spot start for the Sox on Monday night against the Jays and allowed 5 runs on 11 hits in 5⅓ innings.
The White Sox recalled relief pitcher Daniel Webb from Charlotte to replace Gonzalez. Webb appeared in 93 games with the Sox from 2013-15, going 7-5 with a 4.54 ERA.