Last week, the White Sox were 2-5. Over this past seven-day stretch, they were 2-5. Sounds like an emerging pattern.
The week opened with incredibly positive energy as the club called up Noah Schultz on Tuesday, and, after a miscommunication, brought up Sam Antonacci on Wednesday. Promoting the organization’s No. 2 and No. 9 prospects is a big deal. So is getting swept at home — and not in a good way.
Debuts
Things got underway with a three-game set at Rate Field against the Tampa Bay Rays. Somehow,
the teams played the entire series without delay, even amid one of the area’s rainiest Aprils on record. Schultz, a Chicagoland native, made it 4 1/3 innings in his first outing, allowing four runs (three earned), walking four, and punching out four. Was it the debut he had hoped for? Probably not. However, when the offense can only get within one, and the bullpen gives up four more after your exit, it is easier to sleep knowing that you were not the sole contributor to the loss.
The Southpaw made his second start of his young career on Sunday and had quite the bounce back. Five innings of one-run ball, with one walk, six strikeouts, and some run support, is enough to earn the first win of your career.
On Wednesday, it was Antonacci’s turn to rally the South Side around him and earn a win for his debut. Instead, the pitching gave up eight earned runs, four apiece by Sean Burke and Tyler Gilbert. The offense spent the entire game trying to score but was unable to do so until the bottom of the ninth inning. The Springfield native got his first hit in the bottom of the second with a blooper to right field. Hawk Harrelson would’ve called it a “Kansas City special” if he were still on the air. In the same inning, the second baseman also recorded his first caught stealing. Despite the loss, Antonacci went 1-for-3 on the night with a walk and a run scored, so it is doubtful he will ever forget Tax Day 2026.
Pitching
Davis Martin is making a name for himself this season with just four starts under his belt. The righthander opened the series with the Athletics out in Sacramento with seven strong innings. His ERA is now down to 2.16 after giving up just one run, walking two, and striking out four. Martin leads the team with three quality starts. If you were wondering who else on the team has a quality start to their name, the answer is no one.
On the opposite side of positive pitching performances is Seranthony Domínguez. There wasn’t much that went right for the “closer” this week. In three appearances, the struggling righty gave up three runs, hit two batters, walked four, and earned a loss. Domínguez is the star child of an overall struggling bullpen. If there are silver linings here, he did earn a save in Sunday’s win. It was not without drama as two men reached base to bring the tying run to the plate before he shut it down.
Hitting
In the last edition of this recap, much time was spent discussing how the offense was struggling and the severe lack of home runs. This week, round-trippers were abundant. Leading the charge is Japanese phenom Munetaka Murakami. The lefty doubled his home run total during the week by hitting a whopping four long balls. One of them came at home in the bottom of the ninth inning of Tuesday’s loss against the Rays.
Munetaka hit the other three at the highly touted Sutter Health Park against the (just) Athletics. The highlight reel dinger came on Friday night in the form of a grand slam; he smashed it 431 feet over the batter’s eye. If 114.1 mph off the bat wasn’t impressive enough, he hit another home run with the same velocity, 425 feet to right field, in Sunday’s finale.
Mune now finds himself as the first Japanese-born player to hit eight home runs in his first 22 games. Even though he is still striking out at a high rate (33.3%), he is also drawing a considerable number of walks (21.5%). In the six games he played last week, Murakami recorded seven free passes.
The rest of the offense also had itself quite a week. As a team, the South Siders hit 14 home runs. That is an average of two four-baggers per game! The increase in long balls boosted the team’s batting average as well. There are only five batters left on the team that are batting below .200. One of those batters is Antonacci, and it’s a small sample size with only five at-bats under his belt. There is significant room for improvement, but over the last seven days, the White Sox ranked 12th in strikeouts and third in walks drawn. Looking for the light in the dark.
The key to success for this team is for the pitching to click at the same time as the hitting. When these things stay in sync for more than three days, this team can put together a winning streak. In lighter news, this is the first time the Chicago White Sox have reached eight wins before May 1 since 2021. That’s either comforting or mildly embarrassing, depending on your perspective. Either way, this is our baseball team.
