The Chicago White Sox recalled Jake Burger from Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday after center fielder Luis Robert went on the COVID-19-related injured list.
Burger was in the lineup Wednesday and hit a go-ahead three-run homer to help the White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 in front of 21,075 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Advertisement
“Timing was right,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “Huge, huge hit.”
The White Sox didn’t any have hits until the fifth against Red Sox starter Rich Hill.
Advertisement
José Abreu broke up the no-hitter with a double to right. AJ Pollock reached on a throwing error by third baseman Rafael Devers. Burger followed with the 444-foot home run, his third of the season.
“I want to play baseball and I want to compete, no matter where I’m at,” Burger said. “It’s kind of how I take it. Obviously, I hate referencing back to the three years I missed, but I was sitting on the couch for 2½ of those years. I’m going to put my best foot forward, no matter where I’m at.”
Burger missed all of 2018 after suffering a ruptured left Achilles tendon in spring training, then missed all of 2019 because of a bruised left heel.
With the 2020 minor-league season canceled because of the pandemic, Burger played in a local league in Missouri before joining the White Sox alternate site in Schaumburg.
He spent time with the White Sox and Charlotte last season.
“Take every day as a blessing,” Burger said.
Burger came in hitting .239 (17-for-71) in 21 games with the White Sox in 2022. He has a .213 average (10-for-47) with three homers and eight RBIs in 13 games with Charlotte.
“These past two weeks in Charlotte were good for me in terms of just relaxing a little bit and not doing too much,” Burger said. “I get a tendency, a habit, to try to get ahead every single at-bat instead of taking it pitch by pitch and being able to control my emotion and not overswing.”
Advertisement
The homer put White Sox starter Lucas Giolito in position for the victory.
“I’ve experienced a little bit of the up-and-down grind and it’s not pleasant, but he keeps proving time and time again that he’s very effective at this level,” Giolito said of Burger. “Huge home run to give us the lead there. He’s been a wonderful teammate, he works his (butt) off. I look forward to seeing him contribute more.”
Giolito allowed one run on five hits with seven strikeouts and four walks in six innings. The run came in the first on a two-out hit by Alex Verdugo.
The Red Sox had at least two batters reach in each of the first four innings, but Giolito kept finding ways to work out of the jams.
“It was a grind,” Giolito said. “I really lacked rhythm and tempo in my delivery, especially out of the windup early. It led to really, really poor fastball command, at times not really knowing where my fastball was going. Luckily I was able to make good pitches with runners on bases early and limit the damage.”
Giolito credited catcher Reese McGuire for “keeping me locked in.”
Advertisement
“We really had to get that slider going,” Giolito said. “We did. That was a good pitch to work off of. All the fastballs I was throwing down in the zone when I usually want to be up. Just working through it and I was able to find a good rhythm later in the game in the last couple of innings.”
Relievers Aaron Bummer, Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly and Liam Hendriks followed.
Kelly exited with left hamstring tightness after striking out two batters in the eighth. He will be reevaluated Thursday.
Hendriks got the final four outs for his 14th save.
“It just rained on this parade here,” La Russa said of Kelly’s injury. “It’s hard to enjoy the moment. That’s exciting, not just for the fans but for our team, when you have that kind of depth coming out (of the bullpen).
“But nobody said it would be easy. We’ve gone through this before. We’ll wait and see what kind of hamstring (injury it) is.”
