White Sox 14, Athletics 1: Tristan Peters hits for the cycle

It took precisely one game for the White Sox to overwrite the vibes after getting swept by the Red Sox.

"That’s what we do," said Tristan Peters. "We don’t dwell on the past."

After scoring just two runs and totaling zero extra-base hits over three games against Boston, the White Sox took out their frustration on a beleaguered Oakland pitching staff, hanging 13 runs on 11 extra-base hits and making history while doing it.

In front of a sold-out crowd at Rate Field for Mexican Heritage Night, the Canadian-born Peters notched the seventh cycle in White Sox history, starting and finishing the scoring in an eight-run seventh inning with the hardest two parts of the feat.

"That’s really cool to be one of two guys from Canada to hit for the cycle," Peters said. "I’m honored. The coolest thing I’ve ever done. Blessed to do it in front of these fans. This city. It’s just incredible."

A Tyler Soderstrom solo shot in the top of the seventh had narrowed the White Sox's lead to 4-1 and served as a reminder that a little bit of insurance wouldn't hurt, and Peters took that message to heart. First, he came to the plate after Justin Sterner walked Kyle Teel to start the inning and rocked a two-run shot to the right-center seats to push the game outside of a slam. It also triggered CycleWatch for Peters, although with him batting ninth and the White Sox not likely to hit in the ninth, there was a question whether he would come to the plate again.

He did, and in the very same inning. By the second time he came to the plate, the White Sox expanded their lead to 11-1 with a barrage of doubles. A Munetaka Murakami double cashed in a Sam Antonacci walk, and Murakami came around to score on a Miguel Vargas line drive that got wedged beneath the padding of the left field wall. Colson Montgomery flied out, but Braden Montgomery shot a single to left field to put runners on the corners. After Chase Meidroth walked, Andrew Benintendi sliced a double to the left field corner that cleared the bases and put the Sox up by 10, and with still just one out in the inning.

"Really nice to bust out," said Will Venable. "Really all over the place, there was a lot of good stuff."

Teel then lined out, but there was still time for Peters to get a crack at history, and when he pulled a grounder over first base and down the right field line, he had his shot. Even though he spun his wheels out of the box and rounded first with a slight stumble, he was still able to dive into third ahead of the throw for the first cycle since José Abreu in 2017.

"I hit that and I saw it go down the line and I’m going three no matter what," Peters said. "[Third base coach Justin Jirschele] told me he gave the stop sign and I saw it. I’m going through. I don’t care. I’ll be a little selfish at this point."

It was the kind of hustle that might've seemed excessive in a 10-run game if that sort of history weren't on the line, just like it seemed excessive when Miguel Vargas launched a solo shot off pitching position player Carlos Cortes in the eighth, and Colson Montgomery and Meidroth added singles for the 14th and final run.

And all of it was way more than Sean Burke needed, and he turned in a dominant seven innings. He retired the first 13 batters he faced, and when Jacob Wilson broke up the no-hit bid right before the halfway point, Vargas started a slick double play to extinguish the threat.

Burke ended up going seven, allowing just three other hits and a run while striking out nine. The Soderstrom homer spoiled the shutout, but it was the most acceptable form of gopher ball -- behind in the count with one out in the seventh and the Sox leading by four. He paid for a hanging slider, but it was an acceptable cost for remaining on the attack.

"When I'm in the zone and putting hitters on the defense, it makes my job a lot easier," Burke said. "A little bit different lineup in terms of no [Nick] Kurtz in there makes it a little bit easier to just kind of go after these guys. Mainly just trying to get those guys at the bottom of the linuep, middle of the lineup out so that I didn't have to face [Shea] Langeliers and Soderstrom, some of their better hitters, with guys on."

Burke threw a whopping 70 of 98 pitches for strikes, and everything worked. He averaged 96 over the course of 41 fastballs, and 30 of them generated strikes of some form, including 10 whiffs. It set the agenda for everything else, and everything else worked, led by a knuckle curve that played especially well off the high fastballs and took a starring role the third time through.

And for half the game, the White Sox needed Burke to be that good. Opener Jacob Lopez retired all five batters he faced as the White Sox's struggles against lefties continued, and then Old Friend Aaron Civale entered as the bulk boy.

Peters finally cracked the hit column for the Sox with a double in the third, but it was with two outs. Vargas doubled with one out in the fourth, but Colson Montgomery's bid for a two-run homer died in the right field corner, and Braden Montgomery struck out looking to strand the runner.

They finally cracked the scoreboard in the fifth when Meidroth doubled to start the inning, and Benintendi doubled down with his own two-bagger to put the Sox ahead 1-0. Teel walked, and then Peters smashed a grounder off a diving Joey Meneses to score Benintendi for a 2-0 lead. Antonacci followed suit with a line drive to right that scored Teel while pushing Peters to third, and while Vargas missed out on a homer, his warning-track fly also counted as a sac fly to make it a 4-0 game. Vargas would eventually get his homer, although it was overshadowed by Peters' feat.

Peters also stole the spotlight from Murakami's return. In his first game since May 29, Murakami batted second and went 1-for-5, but with four strikeouts. Then again, his last K was on a pitch inches off the plate inside, the kind of call intended to help get the game over. He might've broke new ground for etiquette discussions if he were able to challenge a strike call with a position player pitching, but the White Sox didn't have any left.

Murakami and Peters broke out some sort of Macarena-based celebration dance together, and maybe it wound up being the former's biggest contribution to the outcome.

"You know Tristan was on the [Savannah] Bananas and one of the dances he was doing was that, so we just kind of built it off from there and started dancing," Murakami said via interpreter. "I think his hips got loose and that’s why he was able to get that cycle today."

Bullet points:

*The White Sox played fine defense as well. The White Sox turned three double plays, Murakami snared a line drive that would've been the Athletics' first hit, and Colson Montgomery ranging well to his left and making a spinning throw for the first out in the eighth.

*The Sox lost their challenges over the first two innings. Teel challenged an 0-0 ball that was below the zone with one out in the first, and then Meidroth tried to overturn a called strike three that was well within the box to end the second. Those were the only things worth regretting.

*Jacob Gonzalez has been traded.

*Bryan Hudson will open for Erick Fedde on Saturday.

Record: 48-45 | Box score | Statcast