The White Sox turned a rain-soaked afternoon into a tidy series win, riding steady offense, sharp enough pitching, and a little help from the weather in an 8-1 rout of the Tigers.
Rain pushed first pitch back nearly four hours, but the delay didn’t drain the game’s energy. Chicago kept piling on traffic, took advantage of a few slippery breaks on the wet turf, and built enough separation that the bullpen could actually do what it’s supposed to do in a win. The result: a three-of-four series victory that nudged the Sox a game behind the Cleveland Guardians while trimming their magic number to 4 over the Astros for the third wild card and 3 over the Blue Jays.
It started early. After Colson Montgomery drew a leadoff walk against Troy Melton, Chase Meidroth turned it into a run by reaching on a fielder’s choice, stealing second and scoring on Braden Montgomery’s double to right.
On a dry field, that ball probably stays in the park as a single. On this wet one, it died just enough to keep rolling slowly, and Braden Montgomery ended up at second.
The Sox struck again in the third, and this time the inning had a little bit of everything. Colson Montgomery walked again, moved up on a groundout, and advanced to third when Brenton Doyle beat out an infield hit to third.
Sam Antonacci then ripped a double to right, and Brett Callahan had to ease up on his approach to the ball to avoid slipping. Doyle scored without a throw, and Chicago was up 3-0.
The fifth inning was where the game really broke open, though it came with a wrinkle. Davis Martin looked in control, had yet to allow a run, and was sitting on just 70 pitches when Will Venable pulled him after he struck out John Peck to finish his second trip through the order. Martin said after the game that he was dealing with a calf issue, which pushed Venable into a much more cautious mode.
Martin explained it this way: "Right calf, I’ve been dealing with it since April. So it’s been an on and off thing.
Just tonight with the instability on the mound, it was just an added little layer where I was sliding all over the place. Just kind of throbbing pain."
The move nearly backfired. Smith walked Kevin McGonigle on six pitches and Gleyber Torres on five, putting the bases loaded. But he recovered in a hurry, striking out Hao-Yu Lee on six pitches after falling behind 2-0, then getting Riley Greene to ground out to Munetaka Murakami and strand the Tigers.
Chicago made Detroit pay almost immediately. Two batters into the bottom of the fifth, Colson Montgomery singled to start another inning, and Chase Meidroth launched a no-doubt homer through the wind and off the back of the White Sox bullpen to make it 5-0.
That was enough cushion for Venable to manage the rest of the day without much stress. Huascar Brazobán, back from the IL, threw a scoreless inning and allowed only a harmless two-out double by Spencer Torkelson.
Trevor Richards did give up Detroit’s lone run in the eighth after Riley Greene doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly two batters later, and he flirted with more damage by walking Torkelson with two outs. But he got Brett Callahan to pop out and left two Tigers on base, keeping it 6-1.
The Sox added two more after that on a bases-loaded walk by Murakami and a sacrifice fly from Randal Grichik, and that was enough to send the game into the Castillo Zone. Luis Castillo handled the ninth with a clean 1-2-3 inning to finish off the waterlogged win.
There were plenty of side notes, too. Tristan Peters pinch-ran for Tommy Pham after a leadoff single in the eighth and stayed in left field, his first action since leaving Friday’s game with bruises after colliding with a fence pole.
Antonacci made a diving catch in the fourth, even if he had called for it without fully accounting for how hard the wind was knocking the ball back toward the infield. Martin also missed bats, collecting 11 swinging strikes in 70 pitches.
Chicago finished with a 10-6 edge in hits and an 8-5 advantage in walks. The Sox were 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position, while the Tigers went 1-for-7.
Miguel Vargas reached base four times on a single and three walks. And with the win, the White Sox wrapped up the season series against Detroit at 9-4.
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