CHICAGO -- The top of the sixth inning during a Wednesday night loss for the White Sox to the Royals ended rather quietly with a Nicky Lopez ground ball back to pitcher Matt Foster.

Foster threw to first baseman José Abreu for the third out, and Abreu followed his usual practice of tossing the ball to shortstop Tim Anderson as they ran toward the home dugout. Then the fun for the fans began.

Anderson tosses somewhere between 13-to-15 baseballs into the stands at each home game. He’ll do between four and six pregame and then throw one in every inning.

Fans behind the White Sox dugout and really anywhere near the White Sox dugout know what’s coming, jumping to their feet as Anderson looks for his next souvenir target. And really anyone in that first base/left field area becomes a possible recipient.

“They know what’s coming. They want them. There will be people all up in the window, screaming,” a smiling Anderson told MLB.com, referring to the fans in the 300 level suites putting in their notice for baseballs. “People at the top, people all the way down there.

“People everywhere want a ball so I try to make sure I take care of as many people as I can," Anderson added. "I can’t take care of everybody, but I can try to get you a ball, get you some kind of memories.”

There’s no set criteria for where Anderson’s end-of-inning throws are going. He looks around to see who has a glove, and if he’s going to throw it far, Anderson makes sure the ball hits the glove.

“If it’s a crowd of kids, I try to make sure I lob it up. Not too hard,” Anderson said. “I try to give it more of an upper angle than line drives. Line drives are too hard.

“So, I just try to put it up in the air and the rest they deal with it. I usually hit my target. I try to focus on kids. It would be younger kids in the windows. Try to make some in the windows. It’s pretty cool to see their reaction when they do get a ball. Definitely memories.”

Don’t look for Anderson to try to go across the field to fans on the first base line. That throw is a little too far, with Anderson leaving Abreu in charge of the area.

But in the process of giving back to the fans, Anderson also helps himself within the game.

“It keeps me loose for sure throwing them up there,” Anderson said. “There may be an inning where I don’t get a ball, so I have to use my arm in some kind of way, so I throw it up in the stands.”

These moments between Anderson and the fans, taking place throughout every home game, is a microcosm of a bigger bond formed between the White Sox fan base and the American League Central’s top team. The fans have waited patiently through the lean rebuild years from 2017-19, not to mention the fan-less 2020 campaign brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and are now responding to a second season of vast success.

All three of this past weekend’s games against Cleveland topped the 34,000 attendance plateau, with the White Sox drawing over 106,000 in total. There was a playoff like atmosphere even with Cleveland sitting 9 1/2 games behind the White Sox as of Sunday night.

“I was talking with like Leury [García], who's been here since 2013, and he said that's the most people he's ever seen here. So it's pretty special,” outfielder Andrew Vaughn said. “Fans have really come out and really shown their support. We hope that keeps happening all year long.”

“We played a lot of organs when I first got here before the game and you could really hear,” said Anderson of the past emptiness. “It was quiet but now the crowd is really into it.”

It’s become a baseball party for the South Siders, and Anderson is doing what he can to contribute to the fun.

“On the weekends, it’s the place to go before you go out,” said Anderson with a great description of Guaranteed Rate Field. “We try to make it as a pregame for you. You come to the game, have some drinks, have some fun. We have a DJ up there, playing good music. Use it as a pregame before the night starts.

“Definitely fun to play like that and the atmosphere is definitely crazy. We have a lot of fun with it for sure. We are at a point now where we are playing good baseball -- winning. We are in first place and the fans are showing up for us every night.”