White Sox 4, Rangers 1: Battery-powered sweep

It's no surprise that Chris Sale is 4-0, because we know how he can do it.

Now Mat Latos is 4-0, and it's hard to figure out how he's doing it. But he's doing it.

Latos pitched another strong six innings, even if he gave up a run on a Nomar Mazara solo shot that caused his ERA to spike all the way up to 0.74. It should've been worse, because he didn't locate all that well. He lacked swing-and-miss stuff, he left a lot of breaking balls up in the zone, and that seemed like a disaster waiting to happen with the wind blowing out.

He also faced imminent doom when Robin Ventura left him in with runners on the corners and one out in the sixth. He was at 106 pitches at that point. Nothing had come easy, and he escaped the previous inning by stranding runners on the corners with a double play. The Sox weren't just tempting fate -- they were baiting it.

Somehow, though, Latos induced a comebacker, which he snared to start a 1-4-3 double play to end his day with a 3-1 lead. The Sox tacked on one more and pulled off an impressive sweep of the Rangers to cap a 5-2 homestand.

Batterymate Dioner Navarro took ownership of the catching position, which is his for the taking after Alex Avila went on the DL. He delivered game-tying solo shot in the third inning, then cashed in a sac fly for a crooked number in the fifth inning that ended up deciding the game.

Brett Lawrie also had a say in that inning, and the proceedings on the whole. He followed Melky Cabrera's leadoff walk in the fifth with a double to put two runners in scoring position. One scored via #WILDPITCHOFFENSE, and Navarro brought home Lawrie to give White Sox pitchers a cushion.

In the eighth, he shot a single through the middle to drive home Jose Abreu for a comforting insurance run after Nate Jones worked through a rocky eighth.

David Robertson had no such problems with the ninth, atoning for his blown save on Saturday by striking out the side on 12 pitches.

Bullet points:

*Lawrie also contributed an outstanding diving stab and throw to his left.

*The Sox lost a couple baserunners at second. Todd Frazier was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double, as Rougned Odor kept the tag applied as Frazier's hand slipped off the bag -- or that's what the ump saw, anyway. Frazier contended that Odor pushed his hand off the base, and he had a point. Jerry Sands was thrown out there after Navarro's sac fly in the fifth, taking way too long to break for second as the throw came home.

*Cabrera drew two more walks, giving him four over his last four games. The Sox walked more times (five) than they struck out (four), and never had those columns reversed during the series.

Record: 13-6 | Box score | Highlights