White Sox earn 2nd series win against the Astros as Josh Rojas returns from the IL

CHICAGO — Josh Rojas referred to Sunday as his “opening day.”

“I felt like I was out forever,” Rojas said Sunday morning.

The Chicago White Sox reinstated the infielder from the 10-day injured list and he made his debut with the team in the 5-4 victory against the Houston Astros in front of 19,418 at Rate Field. The game was called because of rain after 6 1/2 innings.

Rojas went 0 for 2 with a walk, which brought in a run. The Sox trailed 4-0 in the fifth when Rojas drew the bases-loaded walk against Astros reliever Ryan Gusto. Lenyn Sosa followed with a two-run single.

The Sox took the lead with a pair of two-out hits in the sixth. Luis Robert Jr. drove in Chase Meidroth with a single against reliever Steven Okert to tie the score at 4. Robert stole second and scored on a single by Edgar Quero.

“I was really focused,” Quero said. “When (Robert) got a steal, I was trying to hit the ball to the middle of the field. Especially with the guy throwing a lot of breaking balls, just put the ball in play.”

Mike Vasil pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to earn the first win of his major-league career. The Sox (10-24) took two out of three against the Astros for their second series victory of the season.

“Really happy,” Vasil said. “But more importantly, the series win.”

Before the game, the Sox made a flurry of moves. In addition to adding Rojas, the Sox selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Caleb Freeman from Triple-A Charlotte, recalled left-handed pitcher Tyler Gilbert from Charlotte, placed lefty reliever Fraser Ellard on the 15-day injured list with a left lat strain, optioned reliever Penn Murfee to Charlotte and designated infielder Bobby Dalbec for assignment.

“He’s one of our veteran guys that’s been around, can play the game the right way in all facets,” manager Will Venable said of Rojas. “Someone we like having there and made some good plays there at third base (on Sunday) and someone we’re happy to have back.”

The Sox signed Rojas, 30, to a one-year deal during the offseason. He had been out since suffering a right toe fracture in spring training.

“Still a little sore, but I think it’s going to be one of those things that lingers around for a little bit,” Rojas said. “But it’s good enough to go, and I can do everything full speed, so that’s what I was kind of waiting for.”

The injury occurred during a March 15 Cactus League game against the Colorado Rockies.

“I was going back to cover third and (Brenton) Doyle, big dude, coming in hard, slid and just his whole body rolled right over my toe,” Rojas said. “At the time I was wearing some newer, lighter cleats that I felt more athletic in. The top of them was kind of a thin leather, and it allowed for more mobility. They were more broken in as soon as I put them on, so that was nice. But it didn’t help in that aspect when it came to protecting my feet from something like that.

“So when he slid into my feet, it kind of just crunched all my toes together and kind of squished the shoe. Yeah, and I had the fracture in the big toe and I had the avulsion fracture in the second toe. So yeah, it wasn’t good.”

Rojas described it as “a hot, burning pain in my feet.”

“I fouled balls off my toes millions of times and they hurt, but it’s always something I’ve been able to play through,” Rojas said. “I pride myself on being able to play through little things like that, but this was something I kind of felt something was wrong the next inning when it didn’t go away. And it didn’t come out good.”

Rojas realized he wasn’t going to help the Sox playing at “25%, 30%” of his capacity.

“So it was better just to wait until the toe felt good enough that I could do everything full speed,” Rojas said. “A lot of my game relies on being athletic. If I was just a power-hitting third baseman, it might be a different story. But I’ve got to be able to run the bases full speed. I’ve got to be able to make plays in the hole. I’ve got to be able to beat out infield singles. I’ve got to be able to do all the little things, and my game relies heavily on being able to do those things.

“My toe was not in a place to be able to do that until about a week ago. So when that point hit when I felt like I could go full speed, I was ready to come back.”

The Sox pulled a comeback of their own on Sunday, but completed the game without Andrew Benintendi. The left fielder exited in the sixth inning with left calf tightness.

“Just a little calf soreness, so just wanted to be proactive there especially with the conditions and just turn the page on the day,” Venable said. “But he’ll be day to day.”

The conditions held up long enough for the Sox to rally and earn their first series win since taking two of three from the Boston Red Sox April 11-13 at Rate Field.

“Great job just continuing to put good at-bats together, really up and down the lineup,” Venable said. “Good job by our pitching staff to keep us in the ball game there and defense as well.”

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