The White Sox launched a stretch of 16 games in 16 days. Over the last seven days, the pitching staff posted a 4.11 ERA, 16th in the league, and their 50 strikeouts ranked 13th. On the offensive side, they tied with the Padres for the most home runs with 12 and hit .285, ranking just below Tampa Bay. With that in mind, the 4-2 record to end the week might feel good, but let’s take a better look under the hood.
Chicago started the week in the Windy City facing the Reds. Tuesday was the highly anticipated Pope Hat Night, and this team got no divine intervention. The game felt like an easy win from the start. The White Sox had an early 4-0 lead, and Sean Burke surrendered only one run and fanned eight batters in his seven innings of work.
Brenton Doyle, Edgar Quero and Miguel Vargas all launched home runs in the first half of the game to get fans excited, but the thrill would not last.
When he turned the game over to Bryan Hudson in the eighth inning, the wheels quickly fell off. The lefty reliever failed to record an out, but he did let three runs score to tie the game. The game went to extras, where the Reds got the ghost runner across the plate, but the Good Guys could not do the same.
Luis Castillo faced his former team on Wednesday, and the pitching staff shut the Reds’ offense out. In his second appearance with his new team, Castillo earned a quality start, tossing seven scoreless innings, allowing just two walks while striking out 10. Both Drew Romo and Chase Meidroth had two RBIs in the win. The catcher hit his sixth dinger in the third inning, and Meidroth followed up with a two-run shot of his own in the sixth.
Thursday was a game of catch-up the White Sox could never quite finish, losing 9-8. Down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, Sam Antonacci hit a laser up the middle that would have extended the inning. Elly De La Cruz was simply too tall, too fast, and too well positioned to let the single through, and the game ended. Quero had a 3-for-5 day with two RBIs and a run scored. Do you know how he was rewarded? With a plane ticket back to Charlotte.
I understand the team had to make a roster move at catcher. The front office picked up Jake Rogers late in the week after the veteran backstop’s most recent DFA from the Red Sox. Why they sent Quero down instead of Romo is beyond me. Romo has only nine more at-bats than Quero in August, and Edgar has four more hits than his counterpart. This feels awfully familiar to a Danny Mendick shuttle situation from a handful of years back. I don’t wish ill will on Romo, but something has got to give for Quero to get his shot at staying with the team more consistently.
Friday also marked the start of a long-awaited rematch with the Tigers in Detroit. Flash back to June 19-21, and you’ll see highlights of the Motor City team kicking our butts. This time, it was the Second City’s turn.
After Davis Martin got ejected in Thursday’s matchup (just know it was an incredibly unfair toss, which is why I didn’t mention it sooner), the bullpen was already taxed. The series opener in Detroit seemed like the perfect opportunity to stretch them even further! Sean Newcomb opened the game before turning things over to one of the team’s newest arrivals, José Urquidy. The righthander, who played the 2025 season in the birthplace of Motown, allowed three earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.
His offense came to the rescue with a five-run fourth inning, putting the White Sox back in front and paving the way for the bulk reliever to earn his first win of the season. Tristan Peters and Munetaka Murakami both homered in the inning to account for three of the five runs. Vargas later took a ball for a spin out of the park in the sixth inning to add to the homer trifecta. This wasn’t the first time the third baseman and first baseman hit long balls in the same game during the weekend (OMG besties).
Saturday was a much tighter game. Chicago jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first, and they added on two additional runs in the third. The Tigers spent the fourth and fifth innings clawing back. An Andrew Benintendi single in the top of the seventh pinned the Felines down and kept the threat at bay.
Anthony Kay was on the hook for all three runs Detroit scored on the day. If he had gotten two more outs to complete the sixth inning, he would have earned the quality start and the win. Instead, Jordan Hicks and his 1 2/3 innings of shutout pitching earned him the W. Grant Taylor notched his 10th hold of the year, and Hudson picked up his fifth save.
The Pale Hose completed the sweep on Sunday with another comeback victory. Burke had a less-than-stellar 4 1/3 innings, giving up four earned runs, walking three and striking out just two. Hagen Smith came in for cleanup duty and held Detroit scoreless. His 1 2/3 innings of work were enough to earn him a second MLB victory. Newcomb, who opened the series on Friday, was also there to close it out, working the final 2 1/3 innings of the series finale, blanking the Tigers and earning the save.
Romo’s third hit of the month came in the form of a long ball in the fifth inning off Drew Anderson. Mune and Vargas each smacked their 28th dinger of the year in the seventh and ninth innings, respectively. They are the first pair to hit at least 28 home runs in a season for the White Sox since José Abreu and Eloy Jiménez in 2019.
The sweep gives the Chicago club a 5 1/2-game division lead heading into the second half of the Crosstown Classic. After things wrap up on the North Side, the White Sox will head back to Bridgeport to make up for their rainout against Atlanta before the Mets arrive in town for a weekend series.
I don’t want to jinx anything, but we are halfway through August. If they can make it through this week alive, they can make it through anything. I sincerely apologize to Steve Stone for not enjoying the ride before. I am having a great time now.