Robert, Anderson give White Sox bats some wake-up calls in win over Royals

Following Wednesday night's 6-2 loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium, White Sox manager Tony La Russa had a meeting with hitting coach Frank Menechino and his assistant, Howie Clark.

"We have to get out of this rut offensively, and we're going to work on it hitter by hitter," La Russa told reporters. "Sometimes you're too aggressive, sometimes you're too passive, sometimes you're in between.

"It's tough, and this is no excuse, it's not acceptable, but there are some batting averages that reflect some issues," La Russa said. "The answer is no easy answer. We'll chip away at it."

Entering Thursday's fifth and final game of the series against Kansas City, the Sox took a step in the right direction with a 7-4 win.

Center fielder Luis Robert hit a 2-run homer and had a pair of RBI singles to send the White Sox to New York for a three-game weekend series against the Yankees with some needed confidence.

Tim Anderson (.346) had another big game, going 2-for-3 with 2 walks, 2 RBI and 2 stolen bases.

"I was being myself, playing my game and having fun while doing it," Anderson said. "Just putting us in the best position to be successful."

As he makes a run at another batting title, Anderson is batting .390 with 2 home runs, 9 RBI and 12 runs scored over his last 18 games.

"He's very special," La Russa said. "He's as special as our fans think he is. The more people around the country that know it, the better."

In the seventh inning, Adam Engel's pinch-hit RBI single snapped a 4-4 tie.

"Guys at first and third, I was already in a good situation there," Engel said. "Just had to put the ball in play and keep it up the middle there the best that I can. In order to do that, I just looked for a pitch over the plate and tried not do too much."

Vince Velasquez started for the Sox and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk over 5 innings.

Reliever Bennett Sousa (2-0) pitched a scoreless sixth and got the win. Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman and Liam Hendriks (12th save) also pitched scoreless innings.