CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox's Adam Dunn and A.J. Pierzynski held different opinions on whether being swept by the Kansas City Royals over the weekend had affected their team.

Pierzynski thought the White Sox moved on as soon as they departed the city.

“As much as you guys want to talk about it, write about it and say things, we in here as soon as we got on that plane it was over with, and it was time to focus on the (New York) Yankees,” Pierzynski said. “Coming home is always nice, but that series was over with. Now, let’s just talk about the Yankees.”

Dunn felt the sweep did have lingering effects.

“That was obviously a tough series for us,” Dunn said. “I think people took that pretty hard, which is good.”


Whether or not the White Sox were hurting after dropping three straight to the Royals ultimately doesn’t matter. What did matter was Monday’s outcome.

With September approaching, the Detroit Tigers still nipping at the White Sox’s heels, another first-place team in town and Monday’s back-and-forth affair with the Yankees lasting nearly four hours, Monday’s game had that feeling of a must-win, and the White Sox achieved just that, winning 9-6 at U.S. Cellular Field.

“The better thing than (being swept) is coming back today and getting down like we did and find a way to come back and win the game,” said Dunn, who contributed to the win with his 36th homer of the season.

White Sox manager Robin Ventura admitted losing Monday would have been difficult to swallow.

“I think both sides would have felt that way,” Ventura said. “It was going back and forth. You know (the Yankees are a) good team, and they battle and keep scratching and clawing, and we did the same. I give a lot of credit to our offense, especially after this last weekend with what we went through. And come back home and be up against a team like this and be down and fight your way back.”

The White Sox trailed at two different times to the Yankees on Monday. They went down 3-0 due to starter Gavin Floyd's early troubles, fought back with five runs in the fifth inning and then squandered a 5-3 lead as the Yankees took a 6-5 lead in the sixth inning.

The White Sox weren’t done, though.

Gordon Beckham homered to tie the game in the sixth. Alexei Ramirez homered to take an 8-6 lead in the seventh. Finally, Dunn put the final touches with another home run.
It’s the type of never-say-die effort the White Sox have to expect from themselves this season.

“We’ve been very resilient,” Beckham said. “There have been times where we’ve had some bad stretches, but we just keep coming to the park. We don’t give in. We could have rolled over and died tonight. We really could have. For us to stay in that game and win it, that’s huge.”

Pierzynski concurred.

“It’s been a solid team as far as living for the day and living for the moment and not really getting caught up with what’s happened in the past,” Pierzynski said. “That’s what good teams do. Hopefully we can continue and stay hot.”