The White Sox keep finding the same road formula, and it worked again Wednesday night in Texas.
A day after a blowout win and a quiet middle game, Chicago leaned on a singles-heavy attack, a steady five innings from Anthony Kay and a dominant bullpen to beat the Rangers 4-2 and take another rubber match. Chase Meidroth was the engine, going 4-for-4 out of the sixth spot, while Andrew Benintendi added two hits and drove in the other half of the White Sox runs. Every Chicago run came on one of their four hits with runners in scoring position.
Meidroth set the tone early. In the second inning, Braden Montgomery worked a one-out walk and advanced two bases on a wild pitch before Meidroth, down 0-2 to Tyler Alexander, stayed patient through a couple pitches in the dirt and then lifted a changeup into left field for the game’s first run.
He came right back in the fourth with runners on the corners after Cal Quantrill mixed walks and outs, and this time Meidroth went the other way with a single to right to put the White Sox back on top 2-1. Benintendi followed with a line drive to center that brought in Colson Montgomery and made it 3-1.
The sixth inning brought more of the same. After Braden Montgomery singled with one out, Meidroth punched another hit through the middle to move him to third, and Benintendi followed by slicing a single to center for a 4-2 lead. That was all Chicago needed.
Kay’s night was solid if not spotless. He worked five innings and gave up runs in both frames in which the White Sox scored for him. He also navigated a dangerous fourth inning when Texas loaded the bases with nobody out and managed to limit the damage to one run.
That inning started with Brandon Nimmo’s single to right and Ezequiel Duran’s double off the right-field sidewall. Kay got ahead of Cam Cauley 0-2 before hitting him on the foot to load the bases.
But he recovered by getting Elias Diaz to bounce one to third. Miguel Vargas handled it at the bag and then threw to first for a double play, allowing the Rangers to score but keeping the lead intact.
Kay then struck out Alejandro Osuna on a sweeper to escape.
He had to work again in the fifth, issuing walks to Jake Burger and Wyatt Langford before getting Nimmo to ground out to short. After that, the bullpen took over and slammed the door.
Jordan Hicks worked around two defensive mistakes - Edgar Quero dropped a foul popup, and Vargas bounced a throw after fielding a hard hit ball - but only one of those miscues became a baserunner against the White Sox relievers. Hicks cleaned things up in the sixth, Grant Taylor struck out five of the six batters he faced to get through the eighth, and Bryan Hudson set down the first two hitters of the ninth before ending the game with a slow roller to second for his fourth save.
The numbers tell the story, too: the White Sox bullpen covered four scoreless innings, allowed no hits, no walks and struck out eight.
Chicago’s offense had some dead spots of its own. The top four hitters in the lineup went 0-for-15 with two walks, and the attack didn’t really get rolling until Braden Montgomery started stirring things up. Murakami drew one of the walks, extending his streak to eight straight games with a walk, putting him halfway to the team record of 16 held by Morrie Rath in 1912.
Edgar Quero returned to the lineup and finished 0-for-3 with a walk. He also dropped a popup and later lifted a fly ball that was too shallow to bring home an extra run in the sixth, though Chicago didn’t need the insurance in the end.
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There are a few paths they could explore, including arms from the Angels and a potential impact bat from the Athletics, but the challenge is obvious: controllable talent rarely comes cheap. Even when a player looks attainable, the price tag and the odds of a deal actually getting done can be very different things. For a White Sox club trying to balance patience with progress, this deadline could be the first real test of how bold it wants to be. [Read more 🡒]