White Sox proving they can win big or small: ‘We have that belief now'

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The White Sox have proven they can beat teams big. Now they’re showing an ability to win close, intense ballgames.

Both contests in Milwaukee were nail biters, but the White Sox found a way to win 3-2 Tuesday night at Miller Park after an equally impressive 6-4 win Monday.

“Just grit and determination,” Tuesday’s starter Lucas Giolito said. “We have that belief now that was kind of missing the last couple years that we trust how good we are. We trust our talent. We know that if the game is close, we have a very, very good chance of winning it.”

Belief in baseball is a dangerous weapon and Giolito did his part to run the White Sox’s win streak to six games, allowing just two runs and four hits in six innings of work. But for the second straight night, it took clutch pitching and clutch hitting to hold off the Brewers. The White Sox trailed by two runs in both games, but one night after José Abreu tied things up with a two-run home run in the seventh inning, Eloy Jiménez did the same thing Tuesday in the sixth inning.

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“You’re seeing a different cast of characters contributing, so that’s nice to see and that’s actually a good sign for our team,” manager Rick Renteria said after the win.

Indeed, it seems like the White Sox are always one swing away from getting back in any ballgame, which is a sign of a competitive team. The Brewers might not be at full strength right now, but they still threw some good pitchers at the White Sox the last two nights. Corbin Burnes was a handful on Monday, but Abreu used an 11-pitch at-bat from the fifth inning to help him finally crack the code in the seventh. A similar event played out Tuesday, as Brewers ace Brandon Woodruff was pitching a gem before Jiménez tagged him for a 428-foot blast to center field. In his first two at-bats, Jiménez chipped away with singles before getting the big one.

"We get out and play hard for nine innings,” Jiménez said. “We can win with (many) runs and with one run. We are a really good team and we just try to go out and play hard.”

The White Sox are backing up the hype, surviving a slow 1-4 start to improve to 7-4 after a six-game win streak. That has allowed them to stay two games behind the red hot, 9-2 Minnesota Twins, despite the White Sox dealing with mounting injuries.

The two days in Milwaukee proved to be costly for left shoulders, as Carlos Rodón, Nick Madrigal and Edwin Encarnación all left Wisconsin with left shoulder soreness. Rodón was placed on the 10-day Injured List Tuesday, but there appears to be some legitimate optimism that his injury might not be too serious.

“It wasn’t too crazy or anything. Hopefully we’ll have him back soon,” Giolito said.

Madrigal left Tuesday’s game after injuring his shoulder on a slide into third base. He was attempting to go from first to third on a Luis Robert single and Renteria admitted it was probably a play where Madrigal should have pulled up at second base. Encarnación suffered his shoulder injury on a swing. Both players left the game and will be reevaluated Wednesday in Chicago.

The depth is certainly being tested, but the White Sox are hardly flinching. That was proven by overcoming the 1-4 start and a doubleheader sweep in Cleveland a week ago. The White Sox haven’t lost since.

“We didn’t even need to talk about it,” Giolito said. “That last game against Cleveland, we knew we had to go in and do our job. Going into Kansas City it was all about taking care of business.”

And in Milwaukee it was about riding the momentum. They did exactly that, showing they can win in a variety of ways.

Now the Brewers visit Chicago, where Dallas Keuchel awaits. And the only question is, who will step up next?

 

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