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The kids are alright, and the South Siders are somehow sitting at .500. On a chilly Wednesday at Rate Field, the White Sox outlasted the Royals, 6-5, riding a Colson Montgomery missile and just enough bullpen duct tape to keep the fanbase from collective despair.<\/p>\n
Noah Schultz spent the first three innings playing surgeon. Seventeen pitches carved up the Royals in the first, then another clean sweep in the second. Six up, six down. Barely broke a sweat.<\/p>\n
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The offense threatened early, too. A one-out single from Munetaka Murakami<\/a> and another from Miguel Vargas<\/a> gave the Sox traffic in the first, though Kansas City catcher El\u00edas D\u00edaz<\/a> was left visibly baffled after several borderline pitches went Chicago<\/a>\u2019s way. No challenge came, and no runs came either, as Montgomery froze looking and Chase Meidroth<\/a> rolled over to end the threat.<\/p>\n The Good Guys finally cracked through in the second. Jarred Kelenic<\/a> punched a single, Tristan Peters<\/a> ripped a double down the line, and Peters barreled into third on the throw while Kelenic slid home for run number one. Moments later, Drew Romo<\/a> followed with a dribbler that Vinnie Pasquantino<\/a> fumbled, Peters trotted home, and just like that, the Sox were up 2-0.<\/p>\n Schultz kept the train moving in the third. One walk to Starling Marte<\/a>, then Isaac Collins<\/a> bounced into a slick 6-4-3, and D\u00edaz went down swinging. Forty-one pitches, three innings, minimum faced every time. That\u2019s efficiency with a capital E.<\/p>\n The Sox added another tally in the bottom half of the third. Vargas worked a walk, Montgomery singled, and Meidroth lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Then things got messy. Schultz lost the map in the fourth, walking the bases full before Kansas City<\/a> finally cashed in. He fanned Salvador Perez<\/a> to stop the bleeding, but Nick Loftin<\/a>\u2019s sac fly and a Pasquantino two-run single knotted it at three. Pasquantino, by the way, is the first lefty to tag Schultz for a hit in the bigs.<\/p>\n A quick shoutout here for Sam Antonacci, who turned an ordinary two-out single in the fourth into a hustle double. Mune flew out and left him stranded, but you\u2019ve got to love the fire that these guys are showing.<\/p>\n Schultz\u2019s night ended in the fifth after a leadoff walk to Maikel Garcia<\/a>. Will Venable<\/a> called for Tyler Davis, who, of course, walked Witt Jr. right out of the gate. But Davis found his groove, froze Lane Thomas<\/a>, and got Perez to ground into a force to wriggle out of trouble.<\/p>\n The bats bailed out Schultz in the bottom half of the fifth. Montgomery singled, Meidroth bunted him over, Andrew Benintendi<\/a> walked, and Kelenic smashed a double off the right-field wall to plate two. Sox back in front, 5-3, though Kelenic got greedy and was thrown out stretching for three.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Davis breezed through a spotless sixth, and the Sox nearly added more in their half of the frame after Antonacci reached on a throwing error and Murakami drew another walk, but Vargas flew out to strand them.<\/p>\n Then came the seventh-inning escape act. Jordan Hicks<\/a> came in from the pen, plunked Collins, gave up a single to Carter Jensen<\/a>, and suddenly the tying runs were staring him down. Hicks shrugged, fired off a bunch of nasty sweepers, and struck out Garcia, Witt, and Thomas in a row. That\u2019s some serious lone-wolf energy.<\/p>\n Leading off the bottom of the seventh against John Schreiber<\/a>, Montgomery supplied the insurance, and he did it with a bang. He demolished a no-doubt homer to right field \u2014 110.3 mph off the bat and 399 feet of pure catharsis. The blast pushed the Sox ahead 6-3 and proved to be the difference-maker.<\/p>\n Sean Newcomb<\/a> took care of business in the eighth, even after drilling Loftin. Antonacci, meanwhile, wore his eighth pitch of the year in the bottom of the inning. Apparently, getting plunked is just his thing now. However, he got thrown out trying to steal.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n And naturally, the White Sox couldn\u2019t let the ninth be boring.<\/p>\n Chicago closer Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez coaxed a ground out from Collins, then Jensen ripped a double. Garcia also grounded out, but Witt unloaded a two-run shot to left, instantly shaving the lead to one and aging every Sox fan by a decade. Dom\u00ednguez<\/a> regrouped and fanned Caglianone on a foul tip to finally nail it down.<\/p>\n And just like that, the White Sox are at .500.<\/p>\n What a time to be alive.<\/p>\n Who is the White Sox MVP? <\/strong><\/p>\n