The White Sox (78-75) pulled through with an excellent pitching performance, as the Tigers (72-81) finished 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. As a result, despite quite a few high-leverage moments down the stretch, the South Siders prevailed by a score of 3-1.
Tigers starting pitcher Framber Valdez, 32, ran into trouble in the bottom of the first. Chase Meidroth led off for the South Siders with a tricky grounder that third baseman Kevin McGonigle did not field cleanly. Meidroth ended up with an infield
single to set the stage for what turned out to be a big inning. Tommy Pham drew a four-pitch walk, so the White Sox had runners on first and second with no outs. Miguel Vargas struck out looking at a 3-2 cutter right on the upper-inside corner, and Randal Grichuk grounded into a force out. With runners at the corners and two outs, Munetaka Murakami stepped up to the plate. The first pitch from Valdez to Murakami was a sinker that caught too much of the plate, and Murakami did not miss it. Murakami has been cold since mid-August, entering this game with a .095/.252/.168 slash line from August 19 through September 16. However, Murakami changed that trend in a big way with a timely,423-foot three-run homer to center. Suddenly, the White Sox had an early 3-0 lead.
MUNE SENDS ONE 423 FEET! 😤 pic.twitter.com/r7eBANAUuB
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 17, 2026
Erick Fedde, 33, started on the mound for the South Siders, and overall, his evening went smoothly. Fedde got off to a fantastic start by retiring the first six batters he faced. Fedde’s third inning was not as easy, but even then, he limited the damage. Fedde hit Max Clark to open the inning, and Josh Peck singled to put two on with no outs. Javier Báez struck out, but McGonigle walked to load the bases with only one away. From there, Fedde got Gleyber Torres to hit a soft grounder to Vargas, who stepped on third for the force out. One run scored, but the White Sox still had a 3-1 lead. With runners on first and second with two outs, Fedde threw a 3-2 sweeper that was located very nicely at the knees, but Dillon Dingler hit a sharp liner toward shortstop. However, Luisangel Acuña was in the right place at the right time, and he made the catch to end the inning.
With the score still 3-1 in the top of the fifth, Fedde remained on the mound to open the inning. Fedde retired the first two batters of the inning, but the Tigers did not go down easily. Torres hit a deep drive to left that hit the middle of the wall, only a few feet from being a solo homer. However, the park held it, and Randal Grichuk made an excellent, barehanded play to quickly retrieve the ball and hold Torres to a long single.
That play by Grichuk turned out to be impactful, as Dingler hit a sharp liner to left for a double. Once again, Grichuk got it in quickly, and Torres was unable to score. Had Torres started that play on second, he surely would have scored on Dingler’s double, but instead, the Tigers had runners on second and third with two outs. At that point, Bryan Hudson replaced Fedde on the mound to face Riley Greene in a high-leverage spot. On a 2-2 pitch, Hudson got Greene to chase a low sweeper to end the threat. That closed the book on Fedde’s stat line, which was 4 2/3 innings, one run, four hits, two walks, and six strikeouts.
Spencer Torkelson led off the sixth for the Tigers, and he lined a fastball from Hudson toward the left field corner. Torkelson headed to second base, which he normally would have made it to safely, but once again, Grichuk came up big on defense. Grichuk fired a strike to second to retire Torkelson on another great play.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 18, 2026
In the seventh, with the score still 3-1, Jordan Hicks took over on the mound and struck out the first two batters he faced. The second of those batters was Báez, and that was his third looking strikeout of the game, the first time that has happened in his career. However, McGonigle extended the inning with a single, and Torres walked, prompting a pitching change, as Grant Taylor took over for Hicks. Dingler hit a sharp grounder, but Acuña was there to make the play and end the threat.
Taylor remained on the mound in the eighth, and he retired the first two batters of the inning before issuing a walk to Brett Callahan. That extended the inning for Clark, who hit a tricky grounder, and he narrowly beat the throw to first for an infield single. Surprisingly, though, Callahan tried advancing to third. Murakami spotted this and made an accurate throw over, but Callahan was initially ruled safe. The White Sox challenged the play, and it was about as close as it could have been, but the call was overturned. Just like that, the Tigers walked away empty-handed again.
In the eighth, the White Sox had an opportunity to pick up an insurance run, as Murakami tripled down the right field line. Murakami had the only two extra-base hits of the game for the White Sox. Murakami also picked up the only clutch hit, as the South Siders finished 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. After his triple, the South Siders failed to capitalize, so it was up to the bullpen to protect a two-run lead entering the ninth.
Taylor returned to the mound to open the ninth in an uncharacteristically long appearance for him. Taylor got Peck to fly out on the first pitch of the inning, but the White Sox were not out of the woods yet. Taylor initially got a friendly strike call on a 3-2 pitch to pinch-hitter Colt Keith. However, ABS showed that the pitch narrowly missed, so Keith reached base, and the potential tying run came to the plate. McGonigle hit a soft liner that landed in front of Acuña, who had an easy play at second base, even after a bobble. Since Keith had to wait and see if Acuña would make the catch, he got a late start on his journey to second. Instead, Acuña made the throw to first, which was late. That brought Torres to the plate with two on and no outs, but Taylor locked in and got a ground ball to third. Vargas tagged Keith, who unwisely ran into an out, and Vargas threw to first in time to retire Torres to wrap it up.
The White Sox are back in first place, as they have the same record as the Guardians (78-75), and the South Siders have the tiebreaker. The next game is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. CT on Friday. The probable starters are David Sandlin (5.64 ERA, 5.04 FIP, 0.1 fWAR in 30 1/3 innings) and Andrew Sears (5.40 ERA, 4.18 FIP, 0.1 fWAR in 16 2/3 innings). As usual, CHSN will televise the game, and ESPN Chicago WMVP 1000 AM will have the radio coverage. We hope to see you then.
MVP
Munetaka Murakami (1B): 2-for-4, HR, 3B, 0.23 WPA
Runners-Up
Grant Taylor (RHRP): 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 0.21 WPA
Bryan Hudson (LHRP): 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.14 WPA
Erick Fedde (RHSP): 4 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K, 0.10 WPA
Brenton Doyle (CF): 2-for-4, stolen base, 0.02 WPA
Cold Cat
Braden Montgomery (RF): 0-for-3, K, -0.06 WPA
Runners-Up
Luisangel Acuña (SS): 0-for-3, K, -0.02 WPA
Jake Rogers (C): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K, -0.01 WPA
Miguel Vargas (3B): 0-for-3, BB, K, -0.05 WPA
