PITTSBURGH -- Luis Robert Jr.'s 2025 stat line probably isn't recoverable, let alone in two weeks time. But no one on the White Sox, and few players across the league are better equipped to put together enough material for a 45-second sizzle reel to play in the background of a MLB Network trade deadline segment.
On Friday night, the 27-year-old did his level best to knock out the task in one night. Pairing superlative center field defense with his reliable mashing of mediocre lefties, Robert homered, and scored three times, walked twice and drove in a pair to drag his season wRC+ back over 70 with authority.
The Sox lineup might not have formidable firepower as a whole, but they have a host of hitters who become especially relevant threats when there's a mediocre lefty starter to be had. Speaking of which, Pirates lefty Bailey Falter had the bases empty with two outs in the first when four straight hitters reached to put the Sox in control for good.
A honeyholed fastball for an Edgar Quero solo shot proved to be a rally-starter, as it inspired Miguel Vargas to work a seven-pitch walk and score when Andrew Benintendi whipped a high sinker into the right-center gap for an RBI double. Robert liked Falter's splitter so much that he was able to dump one in front of Oneil Cruz to make it a 3-0 game, despite it being an 0-2 pitch eight inches off the plate. Robert proved that affection to be long-lasting three innings later, when he led off the fourth by launching a center-cut version of the same 413 feet out to left to make it 4-0, in what ultimately served as Falter's final frame.
"That’s Luis right there, that’s how we envision him on a daily basis," said Will Venable. "We understand the impact that he can have, how dynamic he is. He just put himself in a really good position at the plate to be on time. Got really good swings on some good pitches to hit, didn’t miss them."
"I don’t think the game changed the whole season," Robert said via interpreter. "It was a good step forward. Today, pitcher made a couple of mistakes and like I’ve been telling you guys before, you want to capitalize on that."
For a while, this looked like the sort of offensive effort the Sox would treat like a breakthrough but would require a sterling pitching and defensive effort to hold up. And after a 1-2-3 first, Jonathan Cannon was managing contact with measurable amounts of strain, even en route to his first quality start in over two months. Fortunately, even if he's not out there two weeks from now, Robert was patrolling center on Friday.
On any reasonable night, Robert reading, tracking and closing on Nick Gonzales line shot to center in the fourth would be a nice highlight, especially since it came between a Bryan Reynolds leadoff double and an Oneil Cruz RBI single and prevented a bigger inning. But just an inning earlier, Robert recorded a sliding catch on an Isiah Kiner-Falefa third inning screamer that has a place in the tribute video of his White Sox tenure they slap together a week or two from now.
OH MY, LUIS ROBERT JR. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/eXtrnUMvyZ
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 18, 2025
"I’m content if a ball falls in center field that was meant to be a hit," Cannon said. "Because if he can get to it, he’ll catch it."
Even more impressively, Robert and Lenyn Sosa managed not to maim each other nearly colliding on a popup on the very next play. Sosa rolled into Robert's shins at the last second, Robert briefly collapsed to the grass, it was all funny hijinks if you have a limited sense of history. But their next collaboration was stronger
After the Sox deflated rallies with inning-ending double plays in the fourth and fifth, there was a brief notion that the strategic maneuver of "bring in a right-handed pitcher" would deflate their attack. But Braxton Ashcraft's second inning of work found him opening the sixth with leadoff walks to Benintendi and Robert before Sosa loaded the bases with a sharp single left field. Against a drawn-in infield, Colson Montgomery's high chopper was a killshot that clanked off Spencer Horwitz's outstretched glove at first to plate two runs.
Just as it did during his four innings in a White Sox uniform, the appearance of Yohan Ramírez signaled garbage time in the seventh. The first four Sox hitters all reached, including a more manageable Benintendi bouncer to first that Horwitz still bungled for an RBI single. Between Ramírez striking out Sosa and lefty Génesis Cabrera working over Montgomery with a 97 mph sinker, a bases loaded, nobody out situation was about to go by the boards before Michael A. Taylor laced a bases clearing double past 37-year-old Tommy Pham in left.
Time is unforgiving.
Bullet points:
*There were fans chanting "Sell the team!" at this White Sox game! And they were referring to the other team!
*Quero's first inning bomb was his first right-handed home run, giving him one from each side of the plate for his career. He also doubled, walked and scored twice.
"I feel like I'm starting to get the ball more in the air right now on both sides of the plate and I'm feeling pretty good," Quero said.
*These seven innings of one-run ball represented Cannon's longest start of 2025, because the 7 2/3 innings he threw in Sacramento were behind an opener.
*In an effort to try to notice when other teams do goofy stuff, Cruz rather inexplicably drifted several steps off third base as Taylor had to make a sliding catch on a Horwitz flare to left with one out in the second. He managed to retreat back in time to not get doubled off, but that great lead Cruz got to potentially score from third on a single went for naught, and Cannon escaped the inning scoreless.
*Chase Meidroth went 0-for-5 (zero strikeouts) and was the only Sox starter not to reach base.
*Proud Yinzer Dan Altavilla pitched a scorless eighth in front of a healthy collection of friends and family, so Night 1 of Yinzerpalooza wasn't a total bust.
