Aggressive Rios aiming for consistency at the plate

DETROIT -- Eight bullet points alone were devoted to Alex Rios' accomplishments during Tuesday night's game on the front page of Wednesday's White Sox game notes.

The right fielder, who has been the team's most consistent force among a season-long wave of offensive inconsistency, knocked out a triple and five singles to finish 6-for-6 in the 11-4 victory over the Tigers. He picked up two stolen bases for good measure.

Rios joined Lance Johnson (1995), Floyd Robinson (1962), Rip Radcliff (1936) and Hank Steinbacher (1938) as White Sox players who finished with six hits in a single nine-inning contest. He also became the first player since at least 1900 to have five singles and one triple in a nine-inning game, per Elias and ESPN Stats and Info.

Two interesting points from the achievement center on Rios coming off a June in which he hit just .248 with one homer and eight RBIs. He also saw just 12 pitches, with four coming in the last at-bat, to produce the six hits, which could be a sign of good offensive things to come in Rios' mind.

"Recently, I started being a little more aggressive and swinging at first pitches and earlier in the count," said Rios, who was satisfied working deeper into counts but just not getting results. "You force yourself to do it to see if you can get yourself going again.

"I've been putting better swings on certain pitches. I feel like I'm being a little more aggressive under control, but it is what it is, and hopefully I can bring back that consistency I had earlier this year."

White Sox manager Robin Ventura doesn't remember ever seeing a six-hit game from a player, but he was cognizant of what was going on with Rios.

"It's one of those nights, every time you go up there, you're counting it in your head, trying to figure it out," Ventura said. "There were a lot of hits last night, especially the way he was going, going the other way, it seemed like eight. It was a great night and it was fun to watch."

Rios followed up his historic night with an 0-for-4 showing, with two strikeouts, in Wednesday's 8-5 loss.