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ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Chicago White Sox found themselves down three runs after two innings.
Leading off the third, Zach Remillard had one thing on mind: “Get on base.”
“We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that drive the baseball a long way and if we have guys on base we’ve got a chance to score and that’s the goal,” Remillard said.
The second baseman singled, which began an inning of small ball that had big results. The Sox scored six runs in the third to rally for a 9-7 victory in front of 27,630 on Thursday at Angel Stadium.
“If anyone questions if these guys want it, they play hard and to the end,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “That’s your answer right there.”
The Sox earned a split in the four-game series, as pitcher Lance Lynn rebounded from a sluggish start and the offense kept the line moving in the third.
“I hope we can keep pushing and keep the good energy going,” said shortstop Tim Anderson, who had two hits and scored twice.
The six-run third included six singles, a batter getting hit by a pitch and a walk.
The Sox began the third in a 4-1 hole after the Angels got a leadoff homer by Mickey Moniak in the first, a leadoff homer by Mike Moustakas in the second and a two-run homer by Hunter Renfroe later that inning.
Remillard and Anderson began the third with singles. Luis Robert Jr. walked to load the bases for Eloy Jiménez, who drove in two with a single to center.
The Sox tied the game on a one-out RBI single by Yasmani Grandal on a ball that got through the right side of the infield. They took a 5-4 lead on another RBI single to right, this one with two outs by Clint Frazier.
Seby Zavala got hit by a pitch, bringing Remillard to the plate with the bases loaded. He lofted a single to right field, driving in two with his second hit of the inning to extend the lead to 7-4.
“Bases loaded, I’m in a situation where we need a hit right there so I’m looking for something out over the plate and try to hit a line drive through the middle,” Remillard said. “Got in on me a little bit but luckily stayed through long enough to get it in the outfield.”
The six-run inning — like Wednesday’s 17-hit effort in an 11-5 victory — showed how potent the Sox can be offensively.
“Just passing it on to the next guy,” Grifol said. “Take your walks, don’t strike out put the ball in play. We struck out too much after that (finishing with 16) but they threw some good arms. Our offense is capable of a lot of good things. We just have to put it together.”
The Angels scored a run in the bottom of the third on a wild pitch. But that was it against Lynn for the rest of his outing.
He pitched out of trouble in the fourth, striking out Brandon Drury with two on to end a threat.
“In my opinion he was phenomenal,” Grifol said. “He came out gave up three home runs, then retired 15 of the next 19 batters. We needed at least five (innings) and he gave us six.
“In my opinion, for a pitcher to do what he did, it’s not about himself, it’s about the team. It’s what we needed.”
Lynn allowed five runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in six innings.
“I made three mistakes and all three left the ballpark,” Lynn said. “Usually that doesn’t happen. But today, offense scored runs and it didn’t kill us. I’ll take it.
“Wasn’t what you want. You want a clean line, but we scored enough runs and I was able to go deep enough for the bullpen not to have to cover too many innings so it was good.”
The first two reached in the seventh against reliever Joe Kelly. He got Drury to fly out to right and Mike Moustakas to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Sox tacked on two runs in the ninth which turned out to be key. Robert got hit by a pitch, stole second and third and scored when Andrew Vaughn tripled. Vaughn scored on a wild pitch, making it 9-5.
Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run homer in the ninth, his 29th of the season, but Kendall Graveman rebounded to strike out Drury to end the game and give the Sox a split.
“It’s huge,” Lynn said of earning the split. “Where we are at right now (36-47, 4 1/2 games out of first place in the American League Central), we have to split or win series. We can’t lose them. So right now on this road trip, we are even and we are going into Oakland with a chance to have a winning road trip.”
