Paul DeJong homers as the White Sox beat the Rockies 11-3 for their 3rd straight win
Paul DeJong homered and drove in three runs, and the White Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 11-3 on Saturday for their third straight win.
Luis Robert Jr., Korey Lee and Lenyn Sosa also homered for Chicago in its first double-digit scoring game of the season. The White Sox finished with 12 hits in a matchup of baseball's worst teams.
Chicago went ahead to stay with three runs in the sixth inning. Robert tied it at 3 with a 470-foot solo shot to center against Cal Quantrill. Andrew Vaughn was hit by a pitch with one out, and DeJong followed with a drive to left for his 15th homer.
The White Sox (24-61) got rolling against Quantrill after falling behind 3-0, starting with Sosa's two-run shot in the fifth.
“You know, 11 unanswered runs,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “We put some balls in the seats and that's what it's all about.”
Robert, an All-Star last season with 38 homers, is beginning to round into form after being sidelined by a right hip flexor strain. He went deep for the second time in three games, and he also made a nifty sliding catch in center on Ryan McMahon's liner in the second.
“Right now I'm feeling pretty good,” Robert said through a translator. “We haven't been consistently, but hopefully this is a good time for us and we can be more consistent from now on.”
Quantrill (6-6) was charged with five runs and seven hits in 5⅓ innings on a warm, breezy day.
“Just ran out of juice a little bit at the end and made a couple of bad pitches and unfortunately got burnt on them,” Quantrill said. “I thought I threw the ball pretty well for the first couple times through the lineup.”
Nolan Jones and Brendan Rodgers homered for Colorado in its fifth consecutive loss. Rodgers had two of the Rockies' four hits and scored twice.
Jones' 2-run shot in the fifth lifted Colorado to a 3-0 lead. But Chicago got two back in the bottom half when Nicky Lopez doubled and scored on Sosa's third homer of the season.
The White Sox (24-61) broke it open with a season-high six runs in the eighth. DeJong singled in Corey Julks, and Lee had the big blow — a 3-run drive to left-center against Riley Pint for his eighth homer.
Tanner Banks (2-2), the first of three Chicago relievers, got four outs for the win.
White Sox rookie Jonathan Cannon permitted three runs and three hits in 5⅔ innings in his seventh career start.
Outfielder Gavin Sheets, who left Thursday's game with a bruised left heel, was back in the lineup as the DH. Grifol said Sheets could be ready to return to the outfield by Tuesday in Cleveland.
The Rockies send lefty Kyle Freeland (0-3, 9.55 ERA) to the mound on Sunday against White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet (6-6, 3.05 ERA) in the series finale.