No Davis Martin, no problem.
At least for one night, anyway.
After losing their scheduled starter and most reliable source of innings to an elbow injury before the game, the White Sox offense picked up the mantle for an evening by scoring all their runs over the first three innings, and while none of their leads can be considered safe, this one was never threatened. An eight-game losing streak came to an end peacefully.
And loudly. Andrew Benintendi hit his second resounding home run to right field in as many swings for a quick 1-0 lead two batters in against Spencer Turnbull, and while Miguel Vargas' bid to back it up with a double to left was thwarted by a great running catch by Nathan Lukes, it foreshadowed the convincing contact to come.
Lenyn Sosa restarted the offense in the second with a triple that Jonatan Clase couldn't flag down against the wall in right center, and while Ryan Noda struck out to jeopardize the run, Austin Slater picked him up by shooting a single through the middle for a 2-0 White Sox lead, and Turnbull wouldn't be able to get the third out by himself. Josh Rojas singled Slater to third, Chase Meidroth walked to load the bases, and then Benintendi notched his second run-scoring hit in as many innings with a single through the right side.
Rojas was cut down at the plate trying to make it a 4-0 game to finally bring the second to a close, but the White Sox made up for it in the third. Vargas drew a walk as Turnbull's last batter, and after Kyle Teel struck out, Luis Robert Jr. suddenly produced the White Sox's fiercest homer (and John Schriffen's cringiest call) of the year, launching a Mason Fluharty spinner out to left some 441 feet at some 114.2 mph, both of which topped Tim Elko's homer on May 17 for the highest in both categories in 2025.
Sosa then followed with a walk, Slater once again found a way to keep an inning alive after a Noda strikeout with his own walk, and Rojas doubled them both home on a fly to right that an awkwardly leaping Addison Barger couldn't haul in.
If Barger makes that catch, perhaps the Blue Jays find a way to make it more of a nail-biter. As it actually unfurled, Toronto's offense was subdued by the one-two punch of Grant Taylor and Tyler Alexander. Taylor, making his first MLB "start," punctuated his 1-2-3 inning by blasting high heat past Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Alexander ran with the head start. He didn't face trouble until his fourth and final inning of work, when ithe Blue Jays loaded the bases on three singles over the first four batters, but Alexander got Tyler Heineman to ground into a well-turned 4-6-3 double play, and the rout remained intact.
From that point forward, the only item of note was the MLB debut of Wikelman González, who needed just 10 pitches to record a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh. He then came out of the eighth, and that's when his erratic control reared its head. He walked Heineman on five pitches with one out, and while Heineman should've been thrown out at second on a brazen tag-up on a pop foul to the left side, Josh Rojas didn't anticipate the play and was well late with a throw, and Bo Bichette cashed him in with a single to left, which spoiled the shutout and González's ERA. If that's the only thing that went wrong, the White Sox can call it a success.
Bullet points:
*Benintendi's homer tied Elko's homer for distance at 425 feet, but his share of the lead only lasted two innings.
*Slater, starting against a righty, reached base all four times from the eighth spot, scoring twice and driving in two runs.
*Noda was the only White Sox to not reach base, wearing the golden sombrero instead.
*Rojas followed up that late throw by playing an Ernie Clement bouncer into a single in the ninth, backing up after absorbing the hop, then taking his time to prepare for the throw. His defense at third is akin to Paul DeJong's defense at short last year.
