Noah Schultz didn’t issue a walk, and somehow that was the easy part.
The White Sox left-hander had the strike zone, but not much else, and the Rangers made him pay for it in a 10-0 rout at Globe Life Field. Schultz lasted 3 ⅔ innings, allowed 11 Texas hits and never found a way to get through the fourth. Chicago was outscored 10-0 and outhit 18-3, a line score that said plenty on its own.
It started with enough noise to suggest Schultz might escape. He fell behind 2-0 in the first, then watched Wyatt Langford flick a changeup into left for a soft single before Brandon Nimmo turned a first-pitch fastball around and sent it over the left-field wall. Schultz then got through a lucky infield single in the second, but the warning signs were already flashing: he wasn’t missing bats.
That became the story. Schultz kept throwing strikes, but Texas kept putting the ball in play, and the Rangers kept finding grass.
Josh Jung opened the fourth with a hard single, Nimmo followed with a bloop, and Jake Burger drove a laser double into the gap to make it 3-0 before Schultz could get the third out. He never did record it.
After getting one out and falling behind Elias Díaz 0-2, Schultz watched Díaz rip a 2-2 fastball to left for a double, then gave up four more hits, including three with two outs, before Will Venable finally went to the bullpen.
The contact wasn’t always loud, and a few of the balls that found holes could have gone straight to gloves. But Schultz finished with just five whiffs on 43 swings, and the four-seam fastball-heavy approach didn’t have much life.
Only one pitch cracked 96 mph, and the breaking ball didn’t offer enough bite to change the night. Coming off eight days’ rest, fatigue didn’t look like the issue.
The White Sox offense never gave him any cover. Kumar Rocker threw six innings of one-hit ball, and Marco Gonzales, back in the big leagues for the first time since August 2024, worked around a couple of hits and a couple of walks over three innings to finish off the shutout.
Chicago didn’t truly threaten. The White Sox went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, and all of those chances came after Miguel Vargas doubled to start the ninth.
Rocker wasn’t overpowering, but his slider-heavy mix kept producing routine contact that landed in gloves. Texas controlled the evening’s hardest contact too, owning the 10 hardest-hit balls and 15 of the top 18.
Trevor Richards and Tyler Schweitzer also took their share of the damage, combining to allow seven hits and five runs in 3⅓ innings. Schweitzer came on in the fifth trying to escape a jam with runners at second and third and one out, but Alejandro Osuna blasted a two-run single and Wyatt Langford followed with a two-run homer that pushed the game into Position Player Pitching Territory before the halfway point.
Schweitzer stayed on long enough to get Chicago through seven, which left the eighth for Luisangel Acuña’s second outing of the year. His eephus didn’t miss bats either, but he still managed a 1-2-3 inning.
The White Sox have now been shut out eight times this year.
Cleveland moved back into a tie for first place, but their win meant the Twins lost, and the Tigers were similarly clobbered by the Cubs.
Chicago’s recent pattern has been hard to miss: big first-game totals, then almost nothing the next day. The White Sox have now posted 14, 12 and 10 runs in the first game of their last three series, then followed with 0, 1 and 0 in the second game.
There was one bright defensive moment early, when Chase Meidroth ranged to his right in the first inning to steal a cheap single from Josh Jung and also knock down Nimmo’s homer, turning what would have been a three-run shot into a two-run one.
In Other News...
White Sox Finally Had A Feel Good Win Then Teel Left
For a team that has spent much of the season searching for something to feel good about, the White Sox finally got one in Texas. Andrew Benintendi delivered the big swing with a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning, turning a tight game into a cushion the White Sox could protect, and the bullpen did the rest by piecing together a steady night against the Rangers.
The win had the kind of lift Chicago has been missing, which made the scene around Rangers catcher Kyle Teel hard to ignore. Teel left early after a non-contact injury, and the expectation is that he will be out for an extended stretch, a reminder that even on a night when the White Sox could savor a rare bright spot, there was still a more sobering storyline hanging over the game. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Suddenly Have Another Kyle Teel Concern
Kyle Teels latest scare came in the kind of moment that makes a club hold its breath. The White Sox catcher appeared to get hurt on a non-contact play while trying to tag a runner at the plate, then left the game gingerly, a concerning sight for a player who has already spent significant time on the shelf this season with leg issues.
For Chicago, the bigger problem is what comes next if Teel needs more time. The White Sox were already thin behind the plate, and his early exit left them with little margin for error as they sort through the rest of the roster. Depending on how long he is out, the team may have to make a tougher decision than it wanted to this close to the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Finally Broke Out At The Plate Then Came The Concern
The White Sox finally gave themselves a night to feel good about the offense, putting up 10 runs in a win over the Rangers and getting contributions from a lineup that looked far more alive than it has for much of the season. Sam Antonacci helped set the tone, while Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, Andrew Benintendi and Joc Pederson all chipped in as Chicago kept finding ways to extend innings and turn traffic on the bases into real damage.
The concern came after the bats had already done their job, because the game also brought injury scares for Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery. Any time two young pieces leave a game like that, the mood changes fast, and the Sox will be left waiting to see how much time, if any, they might lose from a lineup that had just started to show some life. [Read more 🡒]