White Sox hit 5 home runs and Lucas Giolito throws 3-hit complete game in 10-1 rout of Astros
CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox haven’t been proficient at the long ball in 2021 despite playing in a renowned hitters’ ballpark.
But they made up for the drought Saturday night with five home runs off Houston Astros pitching in a 10-1 win before a lively crowd of 34,304 on a beautiful night on the South Side.
The fans created energy all night, blasting out the neighborhood in the seventh inning with a loud singalong on Bon Jovi’s’ “Livin’ on a Prayer” that continued after the recording had stopped.
It was that kind of night.
“To beat a ballclub like that, that’s a pretty good ballclub,” said Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, who was a triple shy of the cycle. “To blow them out, that’s definitely a positive on our end. Now we know what we can do, so now we’ve got to keep pushing and have that same focus moving forward.”
Zack Collins, Anderson, Gavin Sheets, José Abreu and Jake Burger homered for the Sox, with Burger hitting the first of his career. The Sox notched their first win against the Astros after losing the first five games of the seven-game season series.
“All those guys that came through tonight were scouted and signed and developed (by the Sox), and we’re reaping the benefits with them,” manager Tony La Russa said.
Lucas Giolito threw a complete game, allowing one run on three hits while striking out eight for his eighth win. He had a shutout going until the eighth, when he served up a solo home run to Abraham Toro.
Giolito said he wasn’t pleased with his first-half performance and wanted to start out “with a vengeance” in the second half.
Mission accomplished. Giolito said it was his best outing of the season.
“Being able to go (the complete game) ... I didn’t really need to, considering how prolific our offense was today,” he said. “Guys just mashing the ball. ... As the game went on and the pitch count was low, it was like, ‘Just keep going.’ ”
The Sox got on the board in the third on home runs from Collins and Anderson on back-to-back pitches from Jake Odorizzi. Burger, making his Sox Park debut, doubled home a run in the fourth to make it 3-0, and Anderson added an RBI single to prompt Odorizzi’s removal.
Sheets’ two-run homer in the fifth made it 6-0, and Abreu added a three-run shot off Joe Smith in the sixth. It was Abreu’s 214th career homer, tying him with Carlton Fisk for fourth in franchise history.
Burger, who is hitting .400 since his call-up from Triple-A Charlotte, made it a night to remember with his first career home run off Austin Pruitt in the seventh.
“To do it at home, my family coming up this week, it was special,” Burger said. “I was floating around the bases for sure.”
Burger said he had a conversation with infielder Danny Mendick the other day in which Mendick said, “Aren’t you glad you didn’t quit?”
The answer was a resounding “yeah.”
“There are no words to describe what I’m feeling,” said Burger, who hadn’t played since 2017 before this season because of a series of heel and foot injuries.
While the Sox have said over and over that every opponent is treated the same, beating the Astros after five straight losses to them was something to savor.
“We definitely needed that one,” said Anderson, who added the Sox had to “stop the bleeding and win one.”
