SAN DIEGO -- The White Sox entered this latest West Coast excursion riding a three-game sweep over the Angels, who presently reside at the bottom of the American League West.
With no offense to Kurt Suzuki’s crew, the Anaheim area or even Disneyland, this journey to San Diego was going to be a better barometer of the fast-rising South Siders’ push toward .500 and above. And through two wins over San Diego, including a 4-0 victory Saturday night at Petco Park, the White Sox have done more than prove they belong against one of the National League’s top teams, recordwise.
They look like the better squad, sitting on a five-game winning streak, a 16-17 record overall and standing just 1 1/2 games out of first place in the American League Central.
“For us, it’s not about who we’re playing,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “It’s about playing our game, it’s about committing to the things we believe are important.”
“We are going to try to wear you down over the course of games,” said Sean Burke, the White Sox starting and winning pitcher Saturday. “How we’ve lost games in the past, we feel like we beat ourselves at times. Just putting pressure on teams to make them beat themselves.”
Burke was better than the Padres on Saturday, while the White Sox offense did enough late against a tough opponent in Michael King. They also had to survive a tenuous ninth, where the Padres loaded the bases with nobody out against Grant Taylor.
Gavin Sheets faced the White Sox right-hander, with the left-handed power to tie the game on one swing. Instead, facing a 2-2 count, catcher Edgar Quero called for an ABS challenge on a curveball originally ruled out of the zone by home plate umpire Sean Barber. The call was overturned, making Sheets the first out of the inning, and Seranthony Domínguez completed his eighth save without the Padres scoring.
“Yeah, I think the first one I was trying to save GT,” said Quero, who missed on his first ABS challenge in the final frame. “But the last one, I knew for sure it was there. It was close, so that’s why I challenged.”
“It’s huge,” Venable said. “We’ve talked about offensively being a little more thoughtful about some of our challenges early in the game knowing that late in these games they can really serve a big purpose and they did tonight. And Quero, we’ve seen him utilize the challenge system well and today was a great example of challenging some really big pitches.”
Over six scoreless innings, Burke struck out eight, walked one and scattered four hits. With the game scoreless in the fifth and runners on first and second, Ramón Laureano connected on a line drive to right-center field hauled in by Tristan Peters, and Burke then struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. on three pitches to end the inning. It was the biggest challenge posed against Burke all night.
There were thoughts of bringing Burke back in the seventh, but the White Sox went to Bryan Hudson. With Saturday’s 88-pitch effort, Burke has now gone 14 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 2.72. Burke also followed six scoreless thrown by rookie Noah Schultz in Friday’s 8-2 win.
“If a 22-year-old kid can go do that, I should be able to do that, too,” said a smiling Burke. “Schultz has been doing a great job since he’s been out there. Our game is a little bit different but watching how he goes about his business and attacks this team, it’s nice to see from a stuff perspective how the hitters are handling it and his ability to adapt.”
King worked behind in the count somewhat regularly after the first inning, and the White Sox finally made it work to their advantage in the sixth. Peters drew a one-out walk and Andrew Benintendi reached on a bunt single toward third base.
Munetaka Murakami grounded out to move the runners up, and Miguel Vargas followed with a two-run, two-out single to right on a 2-0 offering. The White Sox added two in the seventh on Quero’s single and Peters’ squeeze bunt.
A sweep is now in play Sunday for a team with a 10-4 record in their last 14 following a 6-13 start to the season.
“We have guys who play hard and want to play together,” Burke said. “That’s the big difference.”
“These guys continue to bring energy on a daily basis and are able to get good results,” Venable said. “These guys believe in themselves and believe in their ability to go out and be competitive.”