Chicago White Sox: Top sluggers finally driving in runs against Indians

The Chicago White Sox got the bats hot with 11 hits, winning 8-5 against the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night on the road.

The Chicago White Sox need their best hitters hitting well regularly.

The White Sox saw four homers on 11 of their hits against the Indians. On a more exciting note, the struggling Sox sluggers, Jose Abreu, Yasmani Grandal, and Yoan Moncada, started showing signs of dropping their slumps on Tuesday night.

Abreu, who is now batting .221 on average, connected on three of four batting attempts for three RBI’s and scored three runs himself. He homered twice on solo shots in the fourth and seventh innings. Tony La Russa might think about keeping Abreu in the DH spot for the next foreseeable future even though Yermin Mercedes struggled at first base (committed one error).

Grandal hit a two-run shot to right field and scored one run for himself. Grandal has seriously struggled at the plate this season with a batting average of .150 now. His shot behind the fence should bring some momentum for just his sixth hit of the season. Grandal did also struggle behind the plate, catching two catcher interference calls on the night.

Moncada has 19 strikeouts on the season this year which is not a great look. He’s batting .200 on the season with one home run and seven RBI’s. On the bright side, Moncada hit a double into the deep center to score Adam Eaton in the top of the sixth. It was nice to see Yo-Yo get on base and drive in a run.

These three sluggers have crucial roles in the batting order, especially Moncada and Abreu batting 3-4 now. Abreu has proven to hit better with men on base which was the cause to move him to the fourth spot in the order. Grandal leads the back half of the order with the sophomore slugger, Luis Robert (who’s batting .310 this season) behind him.

The White Sox ranks in the top ten in the MLB for hits per game (8.12) and runs per game (4.76) this season. Both of these marks are fantastic and accurately represent the Sox offense.

On a side note, the Sox bullpen was a bit rocky against the Indians, seeing as Codi Heuer struggled to put this one away in the ninth inning. Heuer let up three hits and two earned runs late in 1.1 innings. Liam Hendricks had to come in and grab his third save this season, pitching the final batter of the game.

Carlos Rodon was able to get his third win of the season after pitching well over 100 pitches in five full innings. He gave up three hits and two runs (one earned). He added eight strikeouts to the day to keep his ERA at 0.47 through his four games this season. He has certainly risen as the hidden gem in the starting rotation this season, giving the Sox depth on the bump.

Sox fans only worry at the moment should be the team’s reliance on the home run which I last spoke about here. If the bats are hitting as well as they did today with 11 hits, the Sox should keep increasing their record over .500.  The steady consistency of their pitching (outside of Lucas Giolito’s seven-run first inning against the Boston Red Sox) should do them the trick to win games.