Lucas Giolito mentioned manager Tony La Russa’s message of being in “playoff mode.”
“It’s important that we go out ready and prepared to play good, clean baseball and ready and prepared to win every single night,” Giolito said. “That’s pretty much been our mentality all year.”
Two players critical for the postseason returned to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday as Giolito and shortstop Tim Anderson were reinstated from the injured list.
Giolito struck out eight in four innings and Anderson had one hit in five at-bats in a 9-3 victory against the Los Angeles Angels in front of 21,848 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Giolito allowed three runs on three hits and two walks. He had been on the IL since Sept. 1 with a strained left hamstring suffered during his last start Aug. 31 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“This outing was just returning to action and making sure the hamstring felt good, which it did,” Giolito said. “It felt great. All my stuff was playing well. I would have liked to be a little tighter with the slider there, but I’m sure next time out, it will be a little bit more consistent. I liked how I threw the ball, I just didn’t like the results. That’s OK. We ended up winning. That’s all that matters.”
Giolito did not factor in the decision — Aaron Bummer got the win — but he did strike out five straight over the second and third innings. The streak ended when Eloy Jiménez made a leaping catch at the left-field wall to rob David Fletcher for the final out of the third.
“That was unreal, man,” Giolito said of the catch.
Anderson had been on the IL since Aug. 29 with a left hamstring strain.
“Just trying to get a feel for getting back out there and I was also trying to see as many pitches as I could,” Anderson said. “Just trying to get things back. I felt great overall. I’ve just got to continue to build off that and I’ll get back to where I need to be.”
Rookie Gavin Sheets led the way offensively with three hits — including a three-run home run — four RBIs and two runs. Luis Robert had two hits, three runs and one RBI, while Leury García had two hits, two runs and one RBI in the opener of the three-game series.
The team’s magic number for clinching the American League Central is seven.
“Obviously to be in the big leagues is a dream come true,” Sheets said. “To be here and be in contention and playing for something bigger than yourself, you can’t ask for more than that, especially in a rookie year. This has been a blast, but I think the fun parts are still on the road to come.”
The Sox regained Anderson and Giolito but lost outfielder/infielder Andrew Vaughn and reliever Ryan Tepera to the IL in a bevy of moves announced before the game.
They placed Vaughn on the 10-day IL with lower back inflammation. And a couple of hours before the game, they placed Tepera on the 10-day IL with a cut on his right index finger and recalled reliever Jace Fry from Triple-A Charlotte.
“(Monday) night, I was walking through the door at my apartment and kind of grabbed the door frame, the little metal piece where the bolt goes in, and I turned the corner with my hand on that and it sliced my finger open,” Tepera said. “It’s probably about a centimeter big, a little bit deep. It’s a little sensitive right now.”
The Sox also optioned infielder Danny Mendick and catcher Seby Zavala to Charlotte and recalled catcher Zack Collins.
Tepera’s IL stint is retroactive to Sept. 11.
“We’re hoping five to seven days,” he said. “I didn’t need any stitches or anything. I’m going to take it very carefully, and priority is going to be get back for the playoffs.”
Vaughn’s stint is retroactive to Sept. 10.
“The back tightened up and it was getting stiff,” he said. “It was to the point where it felt like something was going to happen, and I went into the training staff and said I had some tightness. Got it checked out but we couldn’t make the progress.
“It’s a day-to-day thing right now. It’s important to get as healthy as possible and be ready for that postseason.”
Vaughn has not played since Thursday.
“It was midway through that (Oakland) series, started to feel a little bit,” Vaughn said. “Thought it was something I could stretch out. But I got back off the flight and felt like it locked up and went in and got it looked at.”
La Russa is hopeful it will be a short IL stint.
“We’re going to be careful with him, and after 10 days he should be ready to go,” La Russa said.
Collins is back after being optioned to Charlotte when starting catcher Yasmani Grandal returned Aug. 27. Zavala had been filling the backup catcher role.
“We’ve been eyeballing Seby, we’re going to eyeball Zack,” La Russa said. “Nobody has any kind of commitment or promise, assuming we get that (magic) number down to zero and we’re actually in (the playoffs in) October.
“This gives us a chance to take a fresh look at Zack, and at the same time Seby’s going to be playing every day down there, which keeps him in shape.”
The Sox made progress on the magic number Tuesday while getting contributions from Anderson and Giolito.
“I’m going to continue to keep working and stay in the cage and try to get back to where I need to be, just in time for October,” Anderson said. “I’ll be all right.”
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