White Sox pounce on Texas' miscues in massive 6th inning

CHICAGO -- The White Sox were invited to have some fun by a temporarily porous Rangers defense during the sixth inning of their 10-5 victory Saturday afternoon at Rate Field.

But to the White Sox credit, they not only accepted the generous invite but also had great fun at the party with a six-run uprising, giving the South Siders a second straight win and securing the series. They improved to 8-4 in their last 12 home games.

“They opened up a little window for us and we took advantage with just quality at-bats. Some of the hustle plays, too,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Just guys continuing to run hard and play hard and it paid off today.”

“It seems like the momentum shifts big time when you can score runs after an error,” said White Sox designated hitter Andrew Benintendi. “Just capitalizing on those are massive.”

Benintendi made an interesting postgame observation about the wind being crazy and driving the ball out of the ballpark. "It's going to be a little different for us this year, at least up to this point. Doing the little things, including taking advantage of other teams’ gaffes, becomes even more important."

Rangers reliever Hoby Milner can attest to that importance. The southpaw recorded three routine-looking plays to open the frame, but none were turned into outs. Those miscues were at the rally's core, erasing a 4-2 White Sox deficit.

Pinch-hitter Austin Slater opened with a hard-hit ball to left-center that center fielder Sam Haggerty would have caught until left fielder Wyatt Langford collided with him. The play was ruled a triple as the ball dropped to the ground.

Chase Meidroth, who earlier extended his hitting streak to 11 games, reached on third baseman Josh Jung’s fielding error. Then Slater scored when second baseman Marcus Semien tried to tag a quick-moving Meidroth on Mike Tauchman’s slow hit grounder and missed, with Tauchman beating the throw to first. Benintendi later put the White Sox ahead with a two-run double on a 3-0 four-seam fastball from reliever Jacob Webb, and Lenyn Sosa put the game out of reach with a bases-clearing three-run double.

Six runs, two earned, and even those were questionable.

“We’ve got trust in the next guy in the lineup,” Benintendi said. “Sometimes you have to take your singles, taking walks.”

“Quality at-bats, controlling the zone, really happy to add some of those veteran guys the last couple of days that have a long history of doing that,” Venable said. “That’s what it’s going to take from top to bottom, stringing together quality at-bats.”

Venable’s lineup has slowly taken on a more balanced look over the past few weeks or even the past month. Meidroth is hitting .409 during this hitting streak at the top of the lineup, featuring the top on-base percentage among American League rookies and only trailing Jacob Wilson (A's) in batting average.

Benintendi and Tauchman bring back a veteran presence, as they returned from their injury rehab assignments Friday. The White Sox recorded season highs with 14 hits, eight extra-base hits and eight walks Saturday, while Luis Robert Jr. added a season-high three hits.

“It's awesome, just to see the offense go out and do what we know they can,” said White Sox starter Bryse Wilson. “Luis, big game today, breaking out of a little slump that he was in. Him just showing what he's capable of, and Benny and Tauch and Slater all coming back recently, big impact on the offensive side the last two days. It's nice to see."

Mike Vasil (3-2) earned the win with three scoreless innings of relief for the White Sox (17-35), but Wilson allowed two runs in four innings as the spot starter for Jonathan Cannon. Cannon was scratched before the game with back tightness.

“It bothered me a little bit yesterday, kind of after playing catch a little bit. I was still confident I was going to be able to throw today and woke up this morning and it was really tight," Cannon said. “We decided to just see how it goes.

“Hopefully make a start in the next couple of days. I kind of feel like an old man right now. It just kind of locked up on me. Hopefully, it clears up in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

General manager Chris Getz spoke on Friday about the team being as healthy as it has been this season. Even with the Cannon back hiccup, that fact has shown with the White Sox energetic play on the field this weekend.