The White Sox, a team that had lost 100 or more games three years in a row, finished the first half of the season 43-38 and leading the American League Central after a 2-1 win Saturday over the Royals.
The Sox insist they expected something like this.
“Everybody else can be surprised,” starting pitcher Davis Martin said. “We’ve had the talent. We have the people in the locker room and we have the people in the coaching staff and the support staff. We have everything we needed inside the building and now we’re just putting it all together.”
The Sox have gotten to this point because they can win in a variety of ways.
They can slug, as shown by Friday’s 22-run outburst and a season punctuated by the power of Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas. They have turned Rate Field into a true home-field advantage, where they’ve won a franchise-record 10 straight series.
The pitching hasn’t been as prolific as the offense but there have been bright spots.
Martin threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings and moved closer to his first All-Star berth. Despite a recent blip, Grant Taylor has been one of baseball’s better relievers. He was that Saturday, retiring all six batters he faced, striking out four and throwing 18 of 19 pitches for strikes.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever done that,” Taylor said. “Pretty cool.”
They’ve also shown a knack for drama, getting hits in the most important moments and taking advantage of the opponent’s mistakes. They also aren’t reliant one person to come through.
Saturday was just the latest example, when the biggest at-bat came from Jacob Gonzalez.
The 2023 first-round pick, Gonzalez came into the year after slipping down the Sox’ prospect rankings. Gonzalez revived his career in Triple-A, and was called up when Murakami went on the injured list in late May with a right hamstring strain.
Gonzalez’s game-winning single past Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and a drawn-in Royals infield was the Sox’ seventh walk-off hit of the season from the seventh different player, including four rookies.
“It’s special, and it seems fitting for our group,” manager Will Venable said. “We talk about [that] every night, that we’re getting contributions throughout the lineup, every guy that steps on the mound, it’s coming from everywhere every single night.”
Gonzalez said the walk-off hit was the first of his life. He never had one in the minor leagues, college baseball or even when he was a youngster.
“Nope,” Gonzalez said. “It’s crazy.”
The Sox capitalized on a crazy – and painful – Royals mistake.
With no outs and runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth, Braden Montgomery bunted to between home and third base. Kansas City reliever Daniel Lynch IV fielded the ball and fired it to third baseman Nick Loftin to try for a force. Loftin couldn’t make the catch and was hit in the midsection and had to leave the game.
Two batters later, the Sox had won again.
“Another series win,” Venable said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, stack as many of those up as possible. Obviously, getting this one is huge.”
Now with half a season to go, the question isn’t whether the Sox will lose 100 games or continue their three-year run of futility.
It’s about whether the Sox are halfway to a division title that seemed improbable to anybody not in their clubhouse.
“That’s my goal. That’s the goal of the rest of the clubhouse,” Taylor said. “We want to be playing in October and we want to play as long as we possibly can.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source chicago.suntimes.com ’
