The White Sox spent the first inning looking like they might be headed for another long night against Jacob deGrom. They didn’t cash in a Sam Antonacci walk and a Munetaka Murakami double, and Texas quickly grabbed the early edge with a pair of solo runs off Erick Fedde.
Instead, Chicago kept stacking chances until the game finally cracked open.
Andrew Benintendi delivered the swing that changed everything, ripping a bases-clearing double inside the right field line in the fifth inning to turn a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 White Sox lead. The inning had already been built by Sam Antonacci, who singled and scored earlier in the frame, then came back to help again as Chicago loaded the bases and forced deGrom into one mistake too many.
Antonacci was all over the top of the order. He walked to open the game, singled and scored in the third on Miguel Vargas’ two-out double, then singled again in the fifth to help tie things up after Tristan Peters opened the inning with a double off the top of the right field wall. Chase Meidroth struck out, Antonacci punched a single up the middle, Murakami walked, and Vargas followed by beating a cross-diamond throw for an infield hit that set the stage for Benintendi.
The White Sox kept finding ways to add on, and they didn’t need much help from the bullpen because the offense eventually turned the game into a rout. Chicago scored five times in the ninth and finished with double digits for the sixth time this season.
That late burst also helped soften the blow of losing Kyle Teel, who left in the second inning after a non-contact injury at home plate. He was on crutches after the game, and all signs point to a longer absence. Teel appeared to get his spikes stuck while trying to apply a tag on Ezequiel Duran, then stayed down as the trainer checked on his left ankle area before exiting without much weight on that foot.
The White Sox got enough from Erick Fedde to stay within reach after the early Texas damage. Joc Pederson opened the scoring by hammering a hanging sweeper over the right field wall on Fedde’s fourth pitch, and the Rangers made it 2-0 the next inning when Duran doubled and Evan Carter singled him home. After that, though, Fedde settled in and retired eight straight hitters, including a pair of 1-2-3 innings on just 17 pitches.
Will Venable still went to Chris Murphy in the fifth instead of letting Fedde face the bottom of the order, and Murphy handled the assignment. The bullpen mostly followed suit. Six Chicago pitchers combined for 9 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 2 walks and 14 strikeouts.
There were a few bumps along the way. Seranthony Domínguez allowed a leadoff homer to Jake Burger on his first pitch of the seventh, though he didn’t issue a walk and struck out two of the next three hitters. Sean Newcomb also had to work through traffic, walking Kyle Higashioka and allowing a Josh Jung single before striking out Brandon Nimmo to leave two runners on.
The Sox put the game away in the ninth. Meidroth walked to start the inning, Antonacci bunted him to second, and Skip Schumaker responded by intentionally walking Murakami. Vargas made the move look costly with a double to the left field corner, Luisangel Acuña followed with a two-run single over a drawn-in infield, Randal Grichuk added a triple, and Braden Montgomery capped the outburst with a double to left center.
Vargas finished with two RBIs, giving him a career-high 61 before the White Sox have even played their 100th game. The win also pushed Chicago to seven games over .500, a new high-water mark.
There were a couple more notes from the night. Colson Montgomery left after the top of the seventh after taking a foul ball off his shin and is day-to-day. He said afterward the foul ball got his calf, there was no need for x-rays, and he probably won’t be in there Tuesday but seems ok.
Braden Montgomery also had a rookie mistake, getting picked off on a full count with runners on the corners and two outs in the eighth, which erased an RBI chance for Meidroth. The White Sox made up for it in the ninth.
And the numbers from the middle of the game told the story just as clearly: the White Sox went 6-for-16 with runners in scoring position, while the Rangers were 1-for-5.
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