A.J. Pollock didn't find himself in the White Sox' starting lineup for Tuesday night's series-opener against the Dodgers.
Still, he found a way to impact a 4-0 victory.
It was the bottom of the sixth inning, and runners stood on first and third with two outs. David Price trotted out from the Los Angeles bullpen with the intention of facing Gavin Sheets in a lefty-on-lefty matchup. But, in a deft counter-maneuver, Tony La Russa sent up the right-handed Pollock to pinch-hit.
The veteran outfielder wasted no time delivering on his manager's trust, lacing a first-pitch cutter into the right field corner to plate a pair of runs and put the White Sox ahead 2-0.
"I'm ready to go if it's where I want to hunt it," Pollock said of the aggressive approach. "I was ready to go."
That knock sparked an eventual four-run inning, which also featured a run-scoring double by Jake Burger in the next at-bat and a run-scoring single by Reese McGuire two spots in the order later.
For a White Sox team that entered play averaging 3.65 runs per game, it was a needed jolt.
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And for Pollock, the moment carried a bit of extra significance. He was a Dodger from 2019-2021, after all, before being traded to the White Sox in exchange for Craig Kimbrel last offseason.
"Yeah it was good," he said with a chuckle of registering the win against his former team. "It's always fun battling those guys. It's good to get a win against anyone, but yeah, that's a good ballclub over there. I know that's a tough team. A little extra special for sure."
As for the trade? Water under the bridge.
"The longer you stay in this game it's like, you could take offense to everything, you could easily do that. But it's a business," Pollock said. "They had some moves they wanted to make, they're gonna look out for their ballclub. And I was excited to be [traded to] a team that's contending."
The White Sox haven't often looked like a contender throughout the first third of the season, but Tuesday's victory marked the club's third in a row. Each of them were impressive, with the first two coming in a series win at the Rays over the weekend.
While the White Sox remain under-.500 — 26-27 — on the season, the hope is that their recent success against baseball's best marks the start of an upward swing.