ST. PETERSBURG -- So little has gone the White Sox way lately that on Friday night at Tropicana Field, the team chose to focus on things it could control, like effort.

It paid off in spades: Chicago not only snapped a season-high seven-game losing streak but did it in style, topping Tampa Bay, 9-2.

There was no lollygagging from the boys in black on Friday. Led by Leury García and Adam Engel, Chicago burned up the basepaths, taking advantage whenever and wherever it could. While the duo combined for three RBIs and scored five runs, it was the intangibles they brought with their hustle that cleared the way for Chicago’s slump-busting breakout.

• Box score

“Those guys out there, they did a nice job,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “They were resolved to go out and have a nice ballgame, go out and put it together, and fortunately for us, it was a nice victory.”

Here are five ways Garcia and Engel took charge of their team’s fate simply by adding a little pep to their step.

1) Garcia loses his hat
Chicago struck first when Garcia clubbed a leadoff double. Jose Abreu’s ensuing drive to second baseman Michael Brosseau squirted away just long enough for Garcia to round third and chug home to score the first White Sox run, as Abreu reached on the error.

Garcia lost his helmet as he ran, but caught it with his heel, booting it up and over his head, then past him as he dove headfirst into home.

“There was a lot of action,” Renteria said. “They were taking advantage, trying to advance, beating plays out to first, hustling, advancing on throws, things of that nature. I thought just in general, all around, it looked like a really good ballgame for us.”

2) Engel wastes no time
Engel rejoined the White Sox Friday after spending more than two months at Triple-A Charlotte, and Chicago’s center fielder was eager to show what he’d learned.

A leap into the outfield wall on the first play of the first inning didn’t slow Engel down any, and he was ready to roll during his first at-bat, in the second inning. Rays starter Brendan McKay had already secured two outs by the time Engel stepped in the box, and when he connected on a grounder to shortstop, it appeared the inning was over.

But Engel hit the gas, beating Joey Wendle’s throw by a large enough margin that the Rays didn’t even contest the call. According to Statcast, Engel arrived at first base in just 3.90 seconds (less than four seconds from a righty hitter who isn’t bunting is very, very fast). His sprint speed was clocked at 31.6 ft./sec. (30 is considered elite).

More important, Engel’s hustle put runners at first and second for Garcia, whose bloop popup behind first base was misplayed by a trio of Tampa Bay defenders, allowing both runners to score and giving Garcia a standup double.

Garcia scored on the next play when Yoan Moncada doubled. The sequence pushed Chicago’s lead to 4-1. None of it would have been possible had not Engel started things off with a mad dash.

3) Garcia gets dirty again
Garcia had his fair share of dives on Friday, including in the fourth inning, when he motored out a double to center field, diving headfirst into second base just ahead of the tag. He scored on the next play, a single to left from Moncada, to give Chicago a 6-2 edge.

Garcia and Moncada, Chicago’s No. 1 and No. 2 hitters, combined to go 7-for-10 with four RBIs and four doubles.

The White Sox had a season-high nine extra-base hits in the win.

“I think we needed one,” said Yolmer Sánchez, who homered in the fourth and added two doubles for the first three-extra-base-hit game of his career. “We needed this one, and we’ve been in a bad moment, but we’re still working hard every day. … We go out and do our best and try to win some games. Sometimes you don’t get the result, but you have to keep working.”

4) Engel goes the extra mile
Engel came up again with two outs in the fifth and stroked a standup triple into the right-field corner that scored a run to push Chicago’s lead to 7-2. The speedster had barely gotten a chance to catch his breath when Rays reliever Colin Poche uncorked a wild pitch and Engel made it the last 90 feet without needing to slide.

5) Who’s on first?
The White Sox were already up 8-2 in the fifth and could’ve switched on autopilot at any point, but Garcia made it clear that wouldn’t be an option. He chopped a pitch to first, but the hit pulled first baseman Nate Lowe toward second. Poche realized this about a half-second too late: Garcia had already turned on the afterburners, capping an all-out effort with a headfirst slide into the bag for a single.

Garcia was stranded a moment later when Moncada struck out swinging to end the inning, but the hearty chorus of boos from the crowd aimed at Poche was thanks enough for Chicago’s efforts.

“It makes you feel excited and happy. That’s something that gives you some extra energy,” winning pitcher Reynaldo López, who struck out eight over seven innings, said through translator Billy Russo. “To see everybody pushing, seeing everybody trying to do their best, hustling, that’s something that [lets] you know you also need to do your job and execute and help the team in every particular aspect of the game.

“It’s fun, and it’s nice when you see that and you feed off of that energy.”