PHOENIX — First-year Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo oozes confidence in his team.
So far, it’s been well-founded.
Jake Lamb homered off a left-hander for only the second time this season, five Diamondbacks drove in at least one run and Arizona beat the White Sox 8-6 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.
The Diamondbacks won for the eighth time in nine games and are 10 games above .500 (29-19) for the first time since 2011.
Arizona scored 6 runs in the fifth inning, chasing starter Jose Quintana and building a 6-run lead, but they had to hold off a White Sox rally.
Quintana (2-6), who retired the first 10 batters he faced, went just 4? innings, allowing 8 runs and 8 hits, both season highs.
“A tough game for me — bad day,” he said. “I look ahead and keep going. Turn the page from this day and keep working and throw the ball where I want, especially fastballs.”
Jose Abreu and Leury Garcia homered for the White Sox, who were swept for the second time on a 3-7 road trip. The Los Angeles Angels did it to start the trip.
“You’re not going to see any of our guys putting their heads down and worrying about what just happened over the past 10 days,” Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. “We take account of what happens, we take account of the good and the bad and then we got to get ready for the next series.”
Fernando Rodney walked Melky Cabrera with two outs in the ninth but got Abreu to ground out to end the game for his second straight save and 12th in 14 tries.
Of Arizona’s 6 hits in the fifth inning, three came from left-handed batters against the lefty Quintana. With the game tied 2-2, Quintana hit Brandon Drury to start the inning. Lamb — batting .149 against lefties — followed with an opposite-field home run, his 13th of the season.