Sunday’s game was only the second this month that Romy Gonzalez has had an at-bat.
The Chicago White Sox infielder made the most of the opportunity with three hits — including a go-ahead, two-run triple — in a 5-2 victory against the Kansas City Royals.
“It’s tough when you’re not playing every day,” Gonzalez said. “But you’ve got to stay as ready as possible. I’ve done a lot of work in the cages with (assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson) and I prepare like I’m playing every day.
“Baseball is definitely a long season. We play 162. You can’t dwell on what’s happened in the past. You just keep your head up and keep working. It’s all you can do. Keep grinding. It was definitely a good day and huge to get that sweep.”
Lance Lynn continued a string of strong starting pitching as the Sox completed their first three-game sweep of the season in front of 23,556 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Gonzalez went on the injured list May 1 with right shoulder inflammation. He returned May 13 and his first at-bats of the month came Friday, when he went 0-for-2 with a sacrifice fly in a 2-0 win against the Royals.
He started at second base in that game. He shifted to shortstop Sunday, giving Tim Anderson a breather.
“One thing Romy does is he prepares like he’s playing every day,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “When he doesn’t play, he doesn’t play, but he’s prepared to play.
“Opportunity meets preparation at some point, and (Sunday) was a good opportunity for Romy to start at shortstop.”
Gonzalez singled in the third, his first hit since April 27 against the Tampa Bay Rays, and stole second.
A solo home run in the fourth by Luis Robert Jr. — his 13th of the season — got the Sox within 2-1.
Clint Frazier, who joined the team from Triple-A Charlotte on Sunday, and Gavin Sheets began the fifth with singles. Hanser Alberto moved them over with a bunt but was hurt while trying to give the safe signal and left the game with left shoulder soreness.
“It was a bizarre injury,” Grifol said. “He laid down a perfect bunt, he’s running down the line and he just waved his hands safe and he felt his shoulder kind of in and out, but he’s good. He’s day to day and his strength was good. It was actually really good news.”
Gonzalez followed with a liner to the right-center gap for the two-run triple that gave the Sox a 3-2 lead.
“I was just looking for something to drive,” Gonzalez said. “Had a good pitch and put a good swing on it. Happy I got that gap for sure.
“I kind of stumbled a little bit. It’s been a while since I ran that far. But, yeah, man, I was thinking three right out of the box for sure.”
He scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Andrew Benintendi.
Anderson, who entered at shortstop after Alberto’s injury with Gonzalez moving to second, singled to begin a two-out rally in the seventh. Gonzalez singled again and Benintendi collected his second RBI with a single, making it 5-2.
The Sox have won five of six, with the starting pitching leading the way.
Lynn provided six solid innings Sunday, allowing two runs — a homer by Michael Massey in the second — on four hits with six strikeouts and two walks.
“The starters as a whole are doing what we’re capable of,” Lynn said. “That’s what we’re trying to do day in and day out. We’ve got six straight quality starts, so if we do what we’re supposed to do, it puts the bullpen in a good spot and you’ve seen them really take off too.
“Whenever you win two series in a row (and) you get a sweep on the back end of a homestand, it’s nice. We’re playing good baseball and hoping we can keep it going on the road here.”
The Sox will have to do some maneuvering with their rotation after placing Mike Clevinger on the 15-day IL with right wrist inflammation. The move, announced before the game, is retroactive to Thursday.
Clevinger is 3-3 with a 4.56 ERA and 40 strikeouts in nine starts. The Sox will announce the corresponding move before Monday’s series opener in Cleveland. Grifol said the soreness started during Clevinger’s last outing against the Guardians on Wednesday.
“That’s a blow, and we’ve got to figure out how to get through that,” Lynn said. “We’ve got somebody coming up and they’ve got to be the next man up. That’s the mentality you have to have through the long season.
“Not everybody’s going to be here at all times — it’s pretty much impossible. You’ve got to have depth and you’ve got to have guys that are coming up and we’ve got to make sure, when they do come up to help, that we give them everything they need to be successful.”
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