The Chicago White Sox have 5 of 6 wins after completing their first sweep of the season against the Kansas City Royals – The Denver Post

Sunday’s game was only the second this month that Romy Gonzalez had at bat.

The Chicago White Sox infielder took the opportunity with three hits – including a two-run hat-trick – in a 5-2 win over the Kansas City Royals.

“It’s hard not to play every day,” Gonzalez said. “But you have to stay as prepared as possible. I’ve worked in the cages a lot with (assistant batting coach Chris Johnson) and I prepare like I play every day.

“Baseball is definitely a long season. We play 162. You can’t dwell on what happened in the past. Just keep your head up and keep working. That’s all you can do. Keep grinding. It was definitely a great and huge day to get this balayage.

Lance Lynn continued a streak of solid starting pitches as the Sox finished their first three-game sweep of the season ahead of 23,556 at the guaranteed-rate field.

Gonzalez went on the disabled list on May 1 with an inflamed right shoulder. He returned on May 13 and his first at bats of the month came on Friday, when he went 0-2 with a sacrificial fly in a 2-0 win over the Royals.

He started at second base in that game. He moved to shortstop on Sunday, giving Tim Anderson a break.

“One thing Romy does is he prepares like he’s playing every day,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “When he’s not playing, he’s not playing, but he’s ready to play.

“Opportunity meets preparation at some point, and (Sunday) was a good opportunity for Romy to start at shortstop.”

Gonzalez singled at third, his first hit since April 27 against the Tampa Bay Rays, and stole second.

A solo home run in the fourth by Luis Robert Jr. — his 13th of the season — gave the Sox a 2-1 win.

Clint Frazier, who joined Triple-A Charlotte on Sunday, and Gavin Sheets started the fifth with singles. Hanser Alberto moved them on with a bunt but was injured trying to give the safety signal and left the game with pain in his left shoulder.

“It was a weird injury,” Grifol said. “He landed a perfect bunt, he runs down the line and he just waved his hands safely and he felt his shoulder come and go, but he’s fine. He’s day to day and his strength was This was actually very good news.

Gonzalez followed with a liner wide of right-center for the two-run triple that gave the Sox a 3-2 lead.

“I was just looking for something to drive,” Gonzalez said. “I had a good pitch and put a good swing on it. Glad to have this gap for sure.

“I tripped a bit. It’s been a while since I’ve run this far. But, yeah man, I was thinking three right off the bat for sure.

He scored on a sacrifice ball to the left of Andrew Benintendi.

Anderson, who came on at shortstop after Alberto was injured with Gonzalez moving to second, singled to start a two-out rally in the seventh. Gonzalez batted again and Benintendi collected his second RBI with a single, making it 5-2.

The Sox have won five of six games, with the starting pitcher leading the way.

Lynn provided six solid innings Sunday, allowing two runs — a Michael Massey homer in the second — on four hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

“The starters as a whole are doing what we are capable of,” Lynn said. “That’s what we try to do day after day. We’ve got six straight quality starts, so if we do what we’re supposed to do, it puts the bullpen in a good position and you’ve seen them really take off too.

“Any time you win back-to-back series (and) get a sweep at the back of a homestand, that’s good. We play good baseball and hope we can continue on the road here.

The Sox will need to do some maneuvering with their rotation after placing Mike Clevinger on the 15-day IL with right wrist inflammation. The move, announced before the game, is retroactive to Thursday.

Clevinger is 3-3 with a 4.56 ERA and 40 strikeouts in nine starts. The Sox will announce the corresponding move before Monday’s series opener in Cleveland. Grifol said the pain started in Clevinger’s last outing against the Guardians on Wednesday.

“It’s a blow, and we have to find a way through it,” Lynn said. “We have someone coming and he has to be the next man. This is the mentality you need to have throughout the season.

“Not everyone will be here all the time – it’s practically impossible. You have to have depth and you have to have guys coming in and we have to make sure when they come to help us that we give them our all. what they need to be successful.

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