Last season, the White Sox came out of the All-Star break with a 10-1 pasting of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the first of three convincing victories in front of many Sox Machine subscribers at PNC Park. It set the tone for a respectable second-half showing that they rolled into a surprising first-place showing during the first half of the 2026 season.
This time, the Sox came out of the break by sending waves of offense against the Toronto Blue Jays. They blitzed Spencer Miles for five runs in the second, and after the Jays started making enough loud contact to suggest insurance was necessary, the Sox used a bases-clearing double from Colson Montgomery in the fifth, and then a bases-clearing triple by Braden Montgomery in the seventh to put the game firmly out of reach for their fourth consecutive victory.
The first of those Montgomery knocks provided the biggest impact in terms of comfort, as the Jays made a couple of runs at threatening the 5-0 lead. Anthony Kay's control issues led to a run before he could strand loaded bases in the third, and then he gave up a solo shot to Luis Urías in the fourth that made it a 5-2 game. Kay didn't look like a great bet to return to the mound in the fifth, so padding was recommended.
While Miles settled in well enough to complete four himself, Chase Meidroth was able to drop a single to right to snap his streak of seven consecutive batters retired to start the fifth. In came lefty Adam Macko, who was tasked with facing Sam Antonacci and Munetaka Murakami. He retired neither, as Antonacci feigned bunt on the first pitch before slashing a single through an altered left side, and Murakami walked on four pitches.
That brought Miguel Vargas to the plate to face the kind of lefty against whom he launched two rockets in the All-Star Game, but Macko got him to swing over a changeup for a surprise strikeout to bring Colson Montgomery to the plate.
Intuitively, Macko should've had an advantage lefty-lefty. As it's played out this year, Montgomery has been better against lefties when putting bat to ball:
- vs. RHP: .206/.294/.433, 9.5 BB%, 31.7 K%
- vs. LHP: .250/.319/.546, 5.0 BB%, 31.9 K%
And although he fell behind 1-2, he was able to lay off a changeup in the dirt, and when Macko grooved a fastball on 2-2, Montgomery drove it to the left-center gap to drive in all three runners and restore the lead to "commanding."
That's where it stayed, because even though Trevor Richards gave up a pair of solo shots over the course of five cacophonous outs to narrow the lead to 8-4 through six, Braden Montgomery negated them in the seventh, and then some.
The White Sox loaded the bases against Patrick Corbin with a single, walk and an error by Kazuma Okamoto, who took a bad hop to the breadbasket and then fired too wide to get the force at second. In came Braydon Fisher to flip Montgomery from righty to lefty, and in one pitch, Montgomery added three RBIs to his tab with his first career triple, which he floated down the right field line. Montgomery then crossed the plate on a Tristan Peters sac fly, and Tyler Schweitzer handled the final three innings to keep the score there.
Schweitzer could've been in line for his second three-inning save of the season, but because Kay only lasted four, Richards gave up more runs than innings pitched and Seranthony Domínguez faced just one batter, the official scorer instead awarded Schweitzer his first career win.
While the base-emptiers loomed largest in preserving the game's comfortable nature, Antonacci notched the game's biggest hit in the second, which capped off the Sox's biggest inning.
After a 1-2-3 first, Colson Montgomery started the second with a single, and that set the tone for an arduous inning for Miles. Andrew Benintendi followed with a single, after which Kyle Teel dropped a double along the left-field line to score Montgomery for the game's first run. Braden Montgomery then hit a grounder to short, where Ernie Clement was playing back. Teel made the mistake of breaking to third, but Benintendi didn't get the cleanest break home, and there might have been a play at the plate if Clement processed it. Instead, Teel was an easier target, and Clement cut down a lead runner by throwing to third for the inning's first out, even if the Sox extended their lead to 2-0 in the process.
But the Sox kept pressing. Montgomery stole his first career base to get into scoring position, moved to third on Peters' grounder to short, and then scored when Chase Meidroth spanked a grounder through the middle. That turned the lineup over for Antonacci, who worked a 3-1 count, and was ready for a high fastball, which left his bat at 43 degrees and still cleared the right field fence with rows to spare for a two-run shot and a 5-0 lead.
The only way the game could've been better was if Kay lasted long enough to get the win. Instead, he came out with wobbly command, and although he was able to mitigate it for two scoreless innings over 34 pitches to open his evening, the third inning alone consumed 34 pitches. He loaded the bases after one out on a hit by pitch, single and walk, and after George Springer beat out a potential 6-4-3 double play for an RBI groundout, Kay reloaded the bases with a walk to Alejandro Kirk to bring Daulton Varsho to the plate.
Kay missed with his first pitch, but was able to get ahead 1-2, and that put Varsho in swing mode. He fouled off a couple of sweepers well off the plate, but on the ninth pitch of the battle, Kay finally threw one he couldn't reach, and the Sox were able to leave the field with minimal damage absorbed.
Kay gave up the homer to Urías in the fourth, but otherwise retired the Jays with minimal drama, and had the Sox bullpen not been fully rested, perhaps Will Venable would've pushed him out for a fifth inning. With all options available, there was no reason to look for an easier viewing experience.
Bullet points:
*By plunking Okamoto in the first inning and Clement in the third, Kay now holds the White Sox single-season record for HBPs with 18. He broke the record set by Chris Sale, who drilled 17 of the 907 batters he faced. Kay only needed to face 413 batters to beat him. The "modern" MLB record is held by Chick Fraser, who plunked 32 batters for the Philadelphia Athletics in the American League's first year of existence back in 1901, but Austin Adams' 24 HBPs in 2021 will be the first threshold to cross before eras can be invoked.
*Every White Sox starter had at least one hit, and the Montgomerii combined to drive in seven runs, with Braden achieving a specific brand of rookie history:
According to STATS, Braden Montgomery is the fourth rookie in White Sox history to record 4 RBIs in consecutive games, joining Bill Cassell (7/14/1928), Alexei Ramírez (8/17-18/2008) and Eloy Jiménez (9/10-11/2019).
— LaMond Pope (@lamondpope.bsky.social) 2026-07-18T02:08:26.370Z
*With the Cleveland-Pittsburgh game postponed due to air quality issues, the White Sox are in sole possession of first place by a half-game.
*The Sox also came out of the gate running hard, with everybody busting it down the line regardless of the lead. With the game on Apple TV+, another national broadcast team noticed.
