In a sign of his progression, David Hamilton makes up for a blunder with two critical hits for the Red Sox - The Boston Globe (2024)

CHICAGO — The Red Sox were on the cusp of being flatlined by the worst team in baseball in the White Sox Sunday afternoon.

That the Red Sox were even in this scenario was a sign of their underperformance with a thin roster marred by injuries.

The team trailed, 4-3, heading into the top of the ninth inning, but David Hamilton gave his team a jolt of energy with a leadoff double. After the next batter, Bobby Dalbec, struck out and with the Sox struggling to score runs with men in scoring position for over a month, the team knew Hamilton had to get to third. So, with Reese McGuire at the dish, Hamilton took off, sliding in safely. Then McGuire negotiated a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Hamilton easily.

The Sox forced extras and were aided by Kenley Jansen’s dominant two frames in the eighth and ninth, when the Sox closer struck out five. Their two runs were scored in the 10th via a Jamie Westbrook sacrifice fly and a Rob Refsnyder RBI single against reliever Michael Soroka.

Hamilton had more imprints on the Sox’ 6-4 victory at Guaranteed Rate Field that helped salvage a series split. Hamilton finished the contest 2 for 5 with a homer. He came into the contest hitting .325 in his previous 13 games, a sign that maybe the infielder, who played a part in a handful of the Sox’ losses early on, is finally feeling more comfortable at the big league level. In Hamilton’s case, production has followed.

“That’s really all I’m trying to do,” said Hamilton afterward. “I’m trying to play good defense, score some runs. Take away some runs. I want to win. And we’re not really doing that right now.”

Hamilton has made strides defensively at shortstop. But the ugly parts of his game almost came back to bite him in the fourth inning with his club leading, 1-0. Justin Slaten, the pitcher on the hill for the Sox in what was a bullpen game, opened up the frame with a throwing error that Dom Smith couldn’t handle at first. Andrew Vaughn then hit a grounder to Hamilton at shortstop, and instead of transferring the ball and flipping it to second for the force-out, Hamilton tried to flip it with his glove.

Both runners were safe. Hamilton was charged with an error. The next batter, Paul DeJong, clipped Slaten for a three-run homer, putting the White Sox ahead, 3-1.

Hamilton could have dissolved in disappointment. Yet in the top of the fifth, he led off the inning with a solo shot against Chicago’s Chris Flexen.

“I [expletive] up,” said Hamilton. “I tried to make a stupid flip. I should have just got the out. It was just a lot of emotion. I don’t like letting people down. It just gets to me. Then I led the inning off, got a good pitch to hit, and thankfully, it went out.”

The Sox and Cora have harped on player development at the big league level this year. That’s their reality with few offseason moves coupled with an exorbitant number of injuries to their players. The Sox have had to lean on Hamilton in the absence of Trevor Story and Vaughn Grissom. It’s a tall order. One that crumbled Hamilton to begin the year. Now, though, he’s battling and punching back, prompting Cora to speak at length about Hamilton prior to the game.

“He’s a great student, a great student of the game,” said Cora. "I think he has simplified things, because he’s not hitting the ball in the air as much as he was early on. He’s been hitting a lot of line drives. He’s been on the fastball. And the running part, he’s electric.”

The Red Sox tied the contest in the sixth behind a Garrett Cooper ground-out double play.

With the game still tied in the eighth, the Sox went to Jansen, who hadn’t pitched since last Sunday. As such, Jansen told pitching coach Andrew Bailey that he was good for two innings.

Certainly, he was.

“It was a tight game and [Cora] gave me the ball and I went out there and tried to pick the team up,” said Jansen.

The Sox will need to pick it up with their upcoming schedule featuring the Phillies and Yankees, two of the best teams in baseball.

They have played .500 ball virtually all season, hoisting a 33-33 record thus far.

But in the midst of average play, Hamilton has turned a corner.

The proof has been in his play.

“I’m putting together some good at-bats, but there’s still work to do,” said Hamilton.

Julian McWilliams can be reached at julian.mcwilliams@globe.com. Follow him @byJulianMack.