It took them until the second half of May, but the White Sox finally have a winning homestand.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve turned a corner, however.
‘‘We’re still well under .500; we’ve got a lot of work to do,’’ starter Lucas Giolito said after the Sox beat the Royals 5-1 on Saturday. ‘‘In this division, I think that [if] we keep playing the way we’re playing, we’ll be in a good spot.’’
After splitting six games against the Astros and Guardians, the Sox have taken the first two against the woeful Royals, assuring themselves of at least five victories in this nine-game stint at Guaranteed Rate Field. The result also gave the Sox consecutive series victories at home for the first time in 2023.
That’s how slowly the Sox started. And if they want to overcome their dreadful beginning, they’ll need more days like Saturday, even if they were playing the last-place Royals.
The Royals showed why they’re one of the worst teams in the majors by running into three outs on the bases, including a 5-3-5 double play in the second inning and an 8-4 putout in the seventh.
Lucas Giolito breaks down his day. #whitesox pic.twitter.com/ZVyUvn9uIh
— Brian Sandalow (@BrianSandalow) May 20, 2023
Still, the Sox took advantage of those miscues, which wouldn’t have been a given earlier in the season.
‘‘We put it together as a club,’’ manager Pedro Grifol said. ‘‘Big hits when we needed them. Really good starting pitching. Good bullpen, good defense, good baseball.’’
Other than allowing a home run in the first to Salvador Perez, who good-naturedly chirped with the Sox’ dugout after the blast, Giolito was strong in his six innings. He lowered his ERA in his last five starts to 2.84 and trimmed the Sox starters’ ERA in the team’s last five games to 1.89.
Once Giolito was out, the bullpen took over and added three more scoreless innings. Joe Kelly worked a perfect eighth and has retired 28 of his last 29 batters, striking out 14 of them.
‘‘I only threw 89 pitches today, but the way our bullpen’s been going, you hand the torch right to them,’’ Giolito said. ‘‘They’ve been absolutely lockdown, coming in firing strikes, striking dudes out.’’
Giolito and the bullpen had a lead to protect because of the offense. Yoan Moncada had a two-run single in the first, and a three-run double by Jake Burger in the sixth broke the game open.
Burger is hitting .354 at home this season, where he has driven in 21 runs. Afterward, however, he was thinking more about the Sox’ American League Central-heavy schedule.
‘‘It’s a big stretch for us, and we just have to keep taking it at-bat by at-bat and pitch by pitch,’’ Burger said. ‘‘Hopefully results are there by the end of it.’’
Meanwhile, in eight games since coming back from the injured list, Moncada is hitting .333 with three doubles and has added another threat to the lineup.
‘‘I feel good physically, and things are going my way,’’ Moncada said through a translator. ‘‘But I still need to keep working. I haven’t accomplished anything yet.’’
Nor have the Sox. Yes, the rotation is coming together, the bullpen is getting tougher and the lineup is producing more, but they still are looking at an uphill climb.
They have a chance Sunday to sweep the Royals, though, which would be a small but tangible sign of progress.
‘‘It feels good,’’ Moncada said. ‘‘When you’re winning, everything feels good. I don’t think anybody likes losing. We’re playing good, and you can feel the unity in the team right now. We’re having fun.’’
