TAMPA, Fla. — ‘‘Offensive juggernaut’’ was not a phrase often uttered in the same sentence as ‘‘White Sox’’ before the All-Star break — at least not without a tongue planted firmly in cheek.
But that’s the only way to describe MLB’s hottest offense coming out of the break, which has powered the Sox to a season-high four-game winning streak.
A day after the Sox completed a weekend sweep of the Pirates that saw them rack up 27 runs, they overpowered the Rays 8-3 in their latest dominant effort.
Brooks Baldwin got it started by ripping a three-run home run against Rays starter Shane Baz in the second inning, scoring rookies Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery in front of him.
Then Luis Robert Jr. continued his recent onslaught with a 110 mph two-run single in the third to score Andrew Benintendi and Chase Meidroth, who went 4-for-5 with three doubles. Robert also swatted a 107 mph rocket for a single in the fifth to further tantalize trade-deadline suitors.
Montgomery, who turned a smooth double play in his second consecutive start at third base, added his sixth career RBI on a fielder’s choice. And Miguel Vargas smacked a two-run bomb in the fifth — his 12th homer of the season — to provide more cushion for Sox starter Sean Burke, who labored on a sweltering night. Burke gave up two unearned runs in four innings with four walks and five strikeouts.
The Sox remain cellar-dwellers in most major offensive categories on the season, but you couldn’t tell that from their last four games. Their 45 hits, 18 doubles and 35 runs since the break were the most in MLB before the schedule Monday was completed.
Chalk up the surge to a more aggressive approach on fastballs early in the count, manager Will Venable said.
‘‘We’ve been missing slug all year,’’ je said. ‘‘It’s really nice to have. That’s how you score runs in bunches.’’
Perez progressing
Left-hander Martin Perez is on pace to return nearly four months after he was sidelined with an injury to his pitching elbow.
Perez will face batters this week and might head out on a rehab assignment Aug. 2, he said in the visitors’ clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring-training home that’s serving as the Rays’ home this season because of hurricane damage to Tropicana Field.
Perez went 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in four starts for the Sox before he went down in April. His arm will be needed as several members of the Sox’ young rotation approach career highs in innings pitched and as general manager Chris Getz floats right-handers Adrian Houser and Aaron Civale in trade talks.
Nancy Faust album drop
The tunes of legendary Sox organist Nancy Faust soon will be available beyond the ballpark.
‘‘Nancy Faust at the Game’’ will be released on CD and digital formats next week via Artistic Integrity Records and the ‘‘My Baseball History Podcast,’’ nearly five decades after the collection of her Comiskey Park and Chicago Stadium stylings was pressed on vinyl.
In a social-media post, Faust called it ‘‘simply unimaginable that this would ever again see the light of day.’’
Faust has returned to play at select home games this season, with her next Rate Field performances scheduled for Aug. 9-10.