After a painful loss on Tuesday, the White Sox are trying to keep the series alive against the Reds on Wednesday night at Rate Field.
Chicago enters at 61-57, while Cincinnati sits at 57-61. First pitch is set for 6:40 CT, with CHSN carrying the game and ESPN Chicago WMVP 1000 AM and 107.9 La Ley on the radio.
The White Sox lineup comes with a few head-scratchers. Sam Antonacci is leading off at second base, followed by Munetaka Murakami at first, Andrew Benintendi in the DH spot, Braden Montgomery hitting cleanup, and Colson Montgomery batting fifth. Chase Meidroth is back after missing multiple games, but he’s at shortstop with Antonacci at second, even though Meidroth’s defense is better at second and Antonacci’s glove has been shaky.
Miguel Vargas is sitting this one out with a scheduled off-day, and that changes the defensive puzzle a bit. Vargas had been scuffling recently, slashing .200/.344/.360 over his last seven games, but he also looked closer to his usual form on Tuesday when he homered.
The rest of the White Sox order is just as unusual. Tristan Peters is in left field and batting seventh despite having only four hits in his last 15 games.
Brenton Doyle, fresh off a leadoff homer on Tuesday, drops all the way to eighth against a right-hander. Drew Romo closes things out at catcher, and he has just two hits in his last 22 at-bats.
The Reds are countering with a different look of their own against right-hander Luis Castillo. Elly De La Cruz leads off at shortstop, with Sal Stewart in the DH role and JJ Bleday in left. Eugenio Suárez hits cleanup, followed by Michael Toglia, Héctor Rodríguez, Jose Trevino, TJ Friedl, and Matt McLain.
Several Cincinnati bats have already had success against Castillo. Bleday, De La Cruz, and Suárez all have homers in their careers off him, and Castillo’s history against the Reds hasn’t been pretty - he carries a 7.15 ERA in two starts against his former club.
That puts extra pressure on Castillo, who played for Cincinnati from 2017 to 2022 and didn’t have a strong White Sox debut. In his first start for Chicago, he allowed five runs in four innings. With the Sox in the middle of 15 straight games, they need him to go deeper and help take some strain off the bullpen.
Cincinnati will also be working with Rhett Lowder, who missed the entire 2025 season after injuries wiped out what had been six strong starts with the Reds in 2024. He’s back now, but the results have been uneven: a 5.26 ERA in 20 games, including 17 starts. Lowder has given up 11 home runs in 89 innings and has allowed plenty of contact, which means the White Sox need to attack early if they want a win and a chance at a rubber match on Thursday.
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Jake Rogers has emerged as a possible short-term answer, bringing prior big league experience and a chance to give the White Sox a steadier option behind the plate. He was recently designated for assignment by the Red Sox, giving Chicago a potential opening to add a veteran catcher without having to wait for the market to fully sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]
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For Chicago, the debate is no longer whether Montgomery has tools. He does. The bigger question is how to weigh a high strikeout rate and a modest walk profile against the value he brings at a premium defensive position, where he has graded out well and helped balance the rest of his game. In a rebuild, that kind of profile can be hard to pin down, which is exactly why Montgomery has become one of the more interesting names on the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Kyle Teel's Recovery Could Give The White Sox A Needed Lift
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The White Sox still do not have an official timeline, but the pace of Teels progress has at least opened a realistic path toward a rehab assignment later this month. For a club trying to piece together stability at catcher, every update matters, and Teels return would bring both lineup help and defensive continuity. Venables update left the door open without forcing it, which is about as much clarity as teams usually get this time of year. [Read more 🡒]