KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The White Sox finally found some offense Sunday with their first home runs in a week to survive an all-hands-on-deck afternoon for the pitching staff and beat the Royals 6-5 to salvage a four-game series split in Kansas City.
Following a three-hour rain delay, Tanner Murray’s first career home run in the second inning ended a 21-inning scoring drought for the Sox, who were shut out the previous two games. The rookie’s two-run blast plated Colson Montgomery, who had doubled off Royals starter Noah Cameron and later mashed a two-run bomb of his own.
After Grant Taylor’s flawless two-inning opening appearance, Sean Newcomb followed in the third inning and soon gave way to Jonathan Cannon, who looked off from the start.
Cannon’s first pitch since being called up from Charlotte was wild, allowing the two baserunners he inherited to advance, before walking one batter to load the bases and two more to tie the game. He exited the game with hip irritation, and manager Will Venable had to call every name in his bullpen as the division rivals swapped leads four times.
“It was incredible,” Venable said. “It was not necessarily how you drew it up, but in those types of situations, you need the guys to step up and pitch well, and they did.”
Sox outfielder Dustin Harris opened the seventh with a pinch-hit double off the right-field wall and eventually scored to put the Sox ahead on a bases-loaded wild pitch from KC reliever John Schreiber. Harris later went airborne to rob at least extra bases from Royals second baseman Michael Massey, a Palos Park resident, whose eighth-inning drive fell just a few feet short of a game-tying homer.
Montgomery was in visible pain after taking a 95-mph sinker off the forearm in the eighth, but he stayed in the game.
His wrist was “sore but not broke,” and the win “felt great,” Montgomery said. “The last couple of days we’ve been right there.”
Mr. Smith goes to Charlotte
Shane Smith had an uneven outing Sunday in his first start at Triple-A Charlotte after being demoted.
The Sox’ Opening Day starter and 2025 All-Star gave up three first-inning runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batter, but settled in for three innings after that with five strikeouts.
The Sox shipped Smith east to straighten things out after he gave up 10 earned runs over three short starts. The rest of the rotation has mostly looked solid since a brutal opening week.
In his first game of a rehabilitation stint with the Knights, outfielder Everson Pereira smacked a 405-foot home run.
Rebuild remnants
One-time Sox rebuilding centerpiece Eloy Jimenez was called up Sunday by the Blue Jays for his first big-league action since 2024. He went 2-for-4 with two singles and two strikeouts as Toronto’s DH.
Luis Robert Jr. has hit .319/.458/.447 with two homers, seven RBI and 12 walks over his first 14 games with the Mets. Luisangel Acuna, the Sox’ main return for Robert, is slashing .196/.224/.196 with four stolen bases.
Yoan Moncada (.125/.340/.250 with a homer and four RBI) hasn’t fared much better for the Angels.
The Sox face the Angels at home April 27-29 and in Anaheim May 4-6. They visit Toronto July 17-19 and welcome the Mets to Rate Field Aug. 21-23.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source chicago.suntimes.com ’
