Gonzalez homers in third straight game as Sox top Angels
When speaking to the media Monday, general manager Rick Hahn continued to express disappointment over the White Sox's slow start.
When it came to trading players and launching another rebuild, Hahn said he'd have a much better idea about what direction to take on July 4 than Memorial Day.
The Sox do have some time to get their act together, but manager Pedro Grifol has no interest in looking all the way to July.
"You're taking me way too far out there," Grifol said Tuesday. "I'm not going to be thinking about July when we have to play (the Angels) tonight and have to win this game tonight. Taking me out six, seven weeks, it's too much for me."
The White Sox followed suit, focusing on the game at hand and beating Los Angeles 7-3 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
It wasn't looking good early when Taylor Ward led off the game with a home run off starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, but a 5-run fourth inning helped the Sox snap a three-game losing streak.
Trailing 3-1 in the fourth, Andrew Vaughn's 3-run double put the White Sox in front for good.
Romy Gonzalez has been filling in for injured second baseman Elvis Andrus and he continued making a case to stay in the lineup with another big all-around game.
Gonzalez followed Vaughn with an RBI double in the fourth inning and he homered for the third straight game in the sixth, a 407-foot solo shot to left center field.
He also stole a base and made a standout defensive play at second.
Over his last nine starts, Gonzalez is hitting .345 (10-for-29) with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs and 10 RBI.
"Romy's extremely talented," Grifol said. "He's got all kinds of tools. His tools are showing up. He can beat you in a lot of ways."
Giolito labored through 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while throwing 97 pitches.
Reynaldo Lopez, Aaron Bummer and Kendall Graveman pitched scoreless relief the rest of the way.
Andrus is out, but the return of closer Liam Hendriks finally has the White Sox in a much better state of health.
"It feels really good to have our whole team back together for the first time," Grifol said. "Now we've just got to put it all together and go play the baseball we're capable of playing and live up to the expectations we have for us a team."
Prospect watch:
Bryan Ramos, rated the White Sox's No. 3 prospect by Baseball America, joined up with Class AA Birmingham Tuesday night after missing the first two months of the season with a groin injury.
Last year, Ramos hit a combined .266/.338/.455 with 22 home runs and 86 RBI. The 21-year-old Cuba native is a third baseman that can also play second.
Shortstop Colson Montgomery, the Sox's top prospect, and left-handed pitcher Noah Schultz (No. 4) have yet to play this season but are getting close to getting on the field.
Montgomery has a back issue and Schultz (forearm strain), the White Sox's first-round draft pick last year out of Oswego East High School, is almost ready to pitch for low Class A Kannapolis.