While the White Sox sweep of the Angels was heavily colored by success against the game of "He's Still in the League?" running out of the Los Angeles bullpen, their success in San Diego was best represented by how much they had avoided the Padres' ninth inning super weapon.
Drew Romo and Derek Hill, a roster combination that surely appeared in zero Offseason Plan Project submissions, drove in all three White Sox runs via the home run, so it's hard to say the team's luck ran out on Sunday. But Mason Miller did finally pitch the ninth, did strike out the side, and earned the save after the Padres edged ahead in the eighth by Xander Bogaerts check-swinging a shoetop-high heater for their second infield single of the inning. So in a way, it certainly did, but the White Sox burnt through their margin for error well before that.
Griffin Canning was activated from his rehab assignment to make his season debut on Sunday, and five innings of one-run ball isn't too shabby off an Achilles tear. His stuff was lively (seven strikeouts), but the control issues that marred his minor league ramp-up appeared early, but went by the boards in consistent fashion. Canning walked a pair in the first, but escaped when Sam Antonacci tried to score all the way from second when a Chase Meidroth infield single kicked away from Bogaerts, but not far enough away for Antonacci to even get close enough to slide. Colson Montgomery's second walk led off the fourth, and he reached third when Jarred Kelenic grounded a one-out single through the right side, but stayed put when Kelenic was picked off before Tristan Peters struck out.
Sox hitters struck out 15 times in all, and that lack of contact required power outbursts to put any points on the board. Romo clobbering a fastball for a line-drive solo shot to right opened the scoring for the Sox, and Derek Hill smashing a similarly enticing challenge heater from reliever Adrian Morejon for a game-tying two-run blast in the seventh closed it. The Sox reached base 10 times, and still only had three at-bats with a runner in scoring position, with the only hit ending with Antonacci out at the plate.
Shane Smith is going to be sidelined for weeks with a rotator cuff strain, he'll join Tanner McDougal on the Triple-A IL, and Hagen Smith needed 66 pitches to get through three innings with Charlotte on Sunday. Which is all to say, maybe this wasn't that critical of a start for Anthony Kay's spot in the rotation, but he was certainly looking to right the ship, since he had completed five innings once all season and it had been a minute since.
Kay's continued effort to mix in his sinker and cutter more was visible from the start, and it worked until it didn't. He breezed through three scoreless innings on 42 pitches, but also the way Miguel Andujar and Manny Machado both launched solo shots in the fourth off successive efforts to jam them with a sinker and a cutter made it feel like Kay's issues might run deeper than four-seam shape. The Machado homer was the first of three-straight hits, and Kay pushed a third run home by airmailing ball four to Freddy Fermin.
Given the palpable potential for collapse, that Kay recovered to strike out Jake Cronenworth with sweepers before a 1-2-3 fifth registered as a finish that left the game, and optimism for Kay, in salvageable shape.
Tyler Davis got credited for the loss, and Bryan Hudson was on the mound for the fateful final moment, but neither seemed very deserving of a loss. Davis provided a 1-2-3 seventh, but his first crack at a second inning of work ended with a leadoff walk to Ramon Laureano. Hudson's fastball looked as overwhelming as ever, striking out a pair in between three grounders. But Jackson Merrill's hard roller to the right side deflected off Munetaka Murakami's diving grasp for a hit, before Bogaerts' excuse-me half-swing rolled into no man's land down the third base line.
Bullet points:
*Acuña struck out on a Miller slider to end it. He went 0-for-4 and is 1 for his last 19.
*Hudson and Davis both had four-seam chases that suggest their fastbally carry will play just fine. Gavin Sheets flied out on a helmet-high Davis heater that had 20 IVB, and Andujar whiffed on Hudson heater that was inches away from hitting him in the neck.
*Romo has matched his 2025 home run total, in a way. He's hit seven in 84 plate appearances between Chicago and Charlotte, compared to seven in 244 trips to the dish at Triple-A Alburquerque last season.
*Cheer up, the White Sox have won four of their last five series.
*Braden Montgomery and Shane Murphy were both promoted to Triple-A Charlotte.
