Chicago White Sox offense picks up Lucas Giolito with a 5-run 4th in a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels

The Chicago White Sox had just taken a three-run lead.

They needed a shutdown inning in the fifth. Lucas Giolito did just that, striking out Taylor Ward and Mike Trout and getting Shohei Ohtani to fly out to right.

Giolito was the winning pitcher as the Sox defeated the Los Angeles Angels 7-3 on Tuesday in front of 22,135 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

But he gave credit to the offense.

“The real story is that the offense did such a wonderful job picking me up,” Giolito said. “The first inning I give up a run, put us in a hole. They immediately answer back, tie it up, it’s a brand-new game. The fourth inning, I give up two and then they immediately answer back.

“They prevented (shutdown innings) from happening twice, which gets the momentum directly back to our side, so all the credit to them. I didn’t pitch well enough to deserve a win next to my name. They just did their thing and I was able to kind of grind through five innings.”

Romy Gonzalez played a big part offensively, going 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a solo home run. Jake Burger and Luis Robert Jr. both had three hits in the 11-hit effort.

Asked what has been clicking, Gonzalez said: “Just playing every day. Seeing pitches, seeing shape. This game is very tough, so when you get the opportunity to play every day and you get in a groove, it’s definitely helpful.”

Gonzalez was in the middle of the action in a five-run fourth.

The Angels had just gone ahead 3-1 with a solo homer by Ohtani and a sacrifice fly by Gio Urshela in the top of the fourth.

The Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning. Andrew Vaughn drove in all three with a double for a 4-3 lead.

Gonzalez drove in Vaughn with a double, then stole third and scored on an error by Urshela, stretching the lead to 6-3.

“Romy’s extremely talented,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “He’s got all five tools. There’s some things that he’s got to work on obviously, just like every player and all of us. But when he puts it all together, he can beat you in a lot of ways and he showed it tonight.”

Grifol said Giolito followed with “probably the key to the game,” retiring the Angels in order in the fifth.

“After we scored, him coming out and giving us that fifth was really, really good,” Grifol said. “I just see a guy that’s really competing. He does a really good job of knowing what’s available for him today, what he has to do to help us win a baseball game. He’s got another little gear that he can go get if he needs it.

“Tonight he needed it in the fifth. We put up a five-spot and you’ve got the top of the order and he does what he did? He’s got another gear and just shows you he’s a winner. He knew what he needed to do in that situation.

“He was actually fighting a little bit to go back out (for the sixth). He said that he found some things and he felt really good in that fifth. It just wasn’t the right thing to do, but I was really happy with what he did in the fifth and his reaction to actually want to go back out in the sixth.”

Giolito (4-4) allowed three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks in five innings. The Sox turned to Reynaldo López, who pitched two perfect relief innings with four strikeouts.

“(López) came in throwing hard as always,” Giolito said. “That slider looked good, that changeup looked good.”

Gonzalez created a little more distance with a solo home run in the sixth, his third consecutive game with a long ball.

“Burger (had) three (earlier this season), so we were messing around a little bit to see if I can get the fourth tomorrow,” Gonzalez said.

With the win, the Sox (23-34) clinched a winning month (15-13 in May) and moved within six games of the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central. They’ll go for another series win Wednesday.

“(The team’s mindset is) continue to play good, focused, clean baseball,” Giolito said. “I know I have a couple of things I’ve got to improve on so I can give us a better chance to win each time I take the ball. But for the most part, we’ve just got to keep staying together, keep playing hard. That’s really it. Win games and see what happens.”

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