PHILADELPHIA -- For a team that was no doubt scuffling when it arrived in Philadelphia, the White Sox three-game series against the Phillies could not have gone much better.
It started with a thrilling 15-inning victory on Friday and concluded Sunday with a 10-5 win at Citizens Bank Park, giving Chicago just its second series victory since the All-Star break. More importantly, Eloy Jiménez and Tim Anderson both ended their homerless droughts, Reynaldo López once again showed flashes of his impressive turnaround and the bullpen continued its recent surge.
With Leury García hitting his first career grand slam to help the offense score as many runs as it had in its previous five games combined and the relief corps rolling along as the best in the Majors over the last three weeks, the White Sox had three key reasons to be optimistic as they departed Philadelphia for a four-game series in Detroit.
Jimenez, Anderson back with a bang
When Jimenez stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, he and shortstop Anderson were a combined 0-for-7 on the day -- and 8-for-53 (.151) since returning from their respective injuries. Neither player had homered since rejoining the lineup.
Jimenez ended that streak with a three-run shot to extend the White Sox lead to 9-3. Anderson followed with a solo homer in his next at-bat to make it 10-3 in the ninth.
"When your team is struggling, I think everybody tries to do too much," Jimenez said. "I think that’s part of the reason we haven’t had the chance to score too many runs like we did today. But today, we went out to enjoy it -- no matter what happens -- and you see the result."
Jimenez did not go on a rehab assignment, with manager Rick Renteria saying the team preferred to have him simply take those at-bats with the big league club. Jimenez has said previously that it took him about a week and a half to find his swing after returning from a sprained right ankle earlier this season. Sunday marked exactly one week since his return this time around.
"I just try to take good at-bats, get good pitches to hit," Jimenez said. "Now I feel much better. I feel more and more comfortable at the plate with more at-bats."
Lopez (kind of) continues transformation
Lopez cruised through four scoreless innings and seemed to be well on his way to continuing his second-half transformation. Unlike his previous four outings since the All-Star break, however, Lopez hit a wall.
With the White Sox leading 5-0, he allowed a double off the top of the right-field wall followed by a walk to put two on with only one out in the fifth. Though he managed to limit the damage in that frame to an RBI single off the bat of Corey Dickerson, Lopez wouldn't be as unfortunate in the sixth. The right-hander issued a leadoff walk to Bryce Harper, then -- after a fly out -- served up three straight singles to plate a pair of runs and end his day with the White Sox clinging to a 5-3 lead.
"I had one bad inning," Lopez said through interpreter Billy Russo. "I felt good before and after that inning, but just the one bad inning. It was just one of those innings where, for whatever reason, I lost command. That’s it."
Though his day came to an abrupt end, Lopez began his outing looking a lot like the pitcher who put up a 2.05 ERA in his first four starts following the layoff. He generated 12 swings and misses, including four each with his four-seam fastball and his changeup, as well as two apiece with his curveball and slider.
"Lopey wasn’t bad at all, I think he just lost his command a little bit in his last inning of work," Renteria said. "He had some missed spots today, but all in all, I still see him on an upward trend."
No Bummer for the bullpen
The bullpen not only helped keep Lopez's final line respectable, but it also halted the Phillies' momentum and allowed the White Sox to pile on.
Left-hander Aaron Bummer inherited Lopez's sixth-inning jam with the potential tying run on base and only one out. He put an immediate end to that threat, inducing an inning-ending double play from pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez on his second pitch. Bummer also pitched a perfect seventh to lower his season ERA to 1.69.
"Bum’s got tremendous action on his pitches," Renteria said. "He can generate ground balls with the best of people. And he got one there."
Overall, the White Sox bullpen allowed only four runs over 16 innings in the three-game series in Philadelphia, half of which came on Dickerson's two-run homer in the ninth inning of Sunday's lopsided win. Chicago's relief corps has a 2.23 ERA since July 18, by far the best in the Majors.
"It’s a big pick-me-up. Hopefully this continues to put us back on track," Renteria said. "We’re trying to get our starting rotation to get us deeper into games. I think we’re starting to see some improvement there and that tied with -- quite honestly, we’ve had some really good relief with our guys. If we can score some runs, we’ll have a chance to win some more ballgames."