Tristan Peters. Colson Montgomery. Miguel Vargas. Edgar Quero. Braden Montgomery. Sam Antonacci. What do they all have in common? They’ve recorded walk-off RBIs for the Chicago White Sox this season. And Jacob Gonzalez has added his name to this elusive list in today’s 2-1 win
!Naturally, after scoring 22 runs on Friday night, we were due for a pitcher’s duel. Our ace against their ace, with neither earning a decision.
Davis Martin found early trouble in the second inning, but it was only for mere
moments. With runners on second and third with only one out, Martin notched a strikeout looking and a strikeout swinging to escape unscathed.
On the flip side, the Sox offense wasn’t making any more noise against K.C.’s Michael Wacha, either. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Vargas lined a single off Nick Loftin’s glove at third. Expecting a bigger deflection and a slower baseball entering left field, the always-hustling Vargas kept his wheels turning toward second base. Nick Collins provided an exceptional throw, and second baseman Michael Massey’s glove caught Vargas’ fingertips right before they reached the bag.
After giving up a one-out double to Bobby Witt Jr. in the sixth inning, Martin’s afternoon was over. At only 87 pitches, Martin tossed 5 1/3 innings, giving up four hits, striking out three and walking just one batter. Sean Newcomb relieved Martin, successfully stranding Bobby at second.
It took until the seventh inning for either offense to break through. Massey beat out an infield single that Gonzalez couldn’t corral from Chase Meidroth. Tyler Tolbert pinch-ran for Massey and immediately stole second and third base during Salvador Pérez’s at-bat, who fortunately struck out in the process for the first out of the inning. Newcomb then made a brilliant defensive play on a Loftin safety squeeze, gloving the dribbler and flipping it to Drew Romo to nab the speedy Tolbert at home:
Unfortunately, a walk from Newcomb loaded the bases, and the Royals found a way to scratch across a run with two outs. (Even that score was made better by poor execution from K.C.) Carter Jensen extended his MLB-leading hit streak to 18 games when he lasered a pitch to short right field to score Starling Marte from third, but Braden Montgomery fielded it quickly and threw home to Romo. Loftin, for some reason taking an aggressive turn toward home even with Witt on deck, was gunned down by Romo at third.
Fortunately, the Royals lead didn’t last long. In the home half of the seventh, Andrew Benintendi notched a leadoff single. Will Venable turned on the hit-and-run with Chase Meidroth at the plate, who lined one past a diving Massey and pinch-runner Luisangel Acuña made his way to third base. Immediately following, Braden Montgomery jumped on the first pitch he saw which resulted into a fielder’s choice at second and a run across the plate.
Facing the heart of the order in the eighth, Grant Taylor sat the best the Royals had to offer down 1-2-3 on only nine pitches.
Tying his season-high of 105 pitches, Michael Wacha was once again brilliant against the Sox. At 7 2/3 innings, Wacha struck out seven, gave up his only walk to Miguel Vargas in the eighth and gave up just the lone run. Daniel Lynch successfully stranded runners on first and second to maintain Wacha’s stat line and stamp out the White Sox rally.
Taylor stayed on for the ninth and needed just 10 pitches for a second consecutive 1-2-3 inning.
All roads led to the bottom of the ninth inning, with the game still knotted 1-1. Colson Montgomery, with an inside-out swing, grooved the baseball to shallow left-center field, and Chase Meidroth followed suit with a single of his own. Braden Montgomery laid down the most perfect bunt single to load the bases with nobody out in the ninth.
The Royals were forced to bring in the infield and go with five infielders. But Junior Perez, pinch-hitting for Tristan Peters, could not take advantage of any of that free green grass in the outfield and struck out looking. With the same defensive alignment in place for Gonzalez, he went oppo, past a diving Witt, for the Sox’s seventh walk-off of the season!
The Good Guys are 17-9 in one-run ballgames this season, have 21 comeback wins and have won 10 straight series at home! At the official halfway point to the season, the Sox sit atop the AL Central by 1 1/2 games, at 43-38.
The White Sox will end their six-game homestand and look for the series sweep tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. CT on CHSN and ESPN 1000.
