DETROIT -- An 8-1 victory over the Tigers Wednesday at Comerica Park brought the White Sox seven-game road trip to a close with a 5-2 record.

This week was more of an odyssey than a trip, considering some of the things the club has dealt with since last Friday. But more importantly, it was a much-needed turnaround for a team carrying a 4-16 second-half ledger before leaving Chicago.

• Box score

“It was important to get things back on track. Regardless of when it happened, It needed to happen,” White Sox catcher James McCann said. “This road trip was a good time for it to start clicking again.”

“I know my legs are dead right now, might be because I stand up the whole game in the dugout,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “For them to get through it, we had 17 straight and a day off, it has put a little stress on everybody. Hopefully we can recover with the day off.”

As the White Sox rest on Thursday’s off-day before entering a treacherous part of their schedule, here’s a look at four key results from the road trip as a whole and Wednesday in particular.

This is Nova

Ivan Nova didn’t look anything like the control artist and veteran innings eater he's previously been through as late as June 18, when his ERA was still above 6.00. But Nova appears back to normal after throwing eight scoreless innings against the Tigers Wednesday afternoon.

“Yeah, it was tough at the beginning, but I never put my head down,” Nova said. “I kept working hard every day and it’s finally paying off.”

Nova actually left for the hotel in the second inning of Tuesday night’s second game of a doubleheader, missing the Tigers victory and the rain delay of just over an hour. That rest paid off, as he struck out one, allowed five hits and induced three double plays.

“I’m a contact pitcher. I’m not a big strikeout [guy],” Nova said. “I know they chase a lot so I don’t want to give in to them. After that, just pitching to contact and to get quick outs. They stayed aggressive the whole time and got a lot of ground balls.”

Renteria had someone ready to relieve Nova in the eighth. But knowing the workload of the White Sox bullpen, Nova wanted that extra inning.

“That’s the good thing that he asked me before he took me out,” said a smiling Nova, who has a 2.79 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break and has allowed two earned runs over his last 28 innings. “I knew I had to give my team a good start today. Four games in three days is not fun. It was a good day for the whole team.”

Wild ride

This seven-game trip began with Philadelphia outfielder Roman Quinn pitching two innings Friday in a tie game during the White Sox 15-inning victory. It ended with Detroit first baseman Brandon Dixon pitching one scoreless inning Wednesday.

That Friday game also featured pitcher Vince Velasquez playing the 14th and 15th innings in left field, where he threw out José Abreu at the plate and almost did the same against Leury García for the eventual game-winning run. In the Detroit series, the two teams basically played three games in the course of 24 hours.

“You can't make it up,” McCann said. “The stuff that happened in that 15-inning game, doubleheader with a rain delay followed by a day game, it's a road trip that very easily could have gone in the opposite direction for us. But the tenacity of this team, we were able to go 5-2 on the trip. That's pretty good considering what we had to go through.”

Offense taking off

A struggling White Sox offense squared up quite a few offerings during this road trip.

Tim Anderson knocked out four singles among the team’s 15-hit attack Wednesday, giving him nine hits in three games against the Tigers. Abreu had three hits and two RBIs, raising his season RBI total to 83.

Garcia has reached base in 18 straight games, and Ryan Cordell launched a 450-foot homer against the Tigers.

McCann, who started the second half in an 8-for-60 funk, finished 9-for-22 on the road trip with seven hits against the Tigers, including three hits and three RBIs Wednesday.

“Just relaxing, honestly,” McCann said. “It's a funny game. When you start going through a tough stretch, you start trying to do more, trying to do too much. The last few games it's been a mindset of relaxing and let it come to me.”

A happy Eloy

Eloy Jiménez is still trying to find his timing in working his way back from a right ulnar nerve contusion. But he put an exclamation point on Wednesday’s victory with an eighth-inning run-scoring single, followed by a broad smile and a celebratory raise of his hands in the air.

“It’s a process,” Renteria said. “He is one of these kids who undeniably to me will exponentially grow in a positive way.”