Jacob Gonzalez delivers walk-off win to keep White Sox in 1st place at season’s midpoint
· Yahoo Sports
CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox recognized their division-winning 1983 club with several members from that team on the field before Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Royals.
The 2026 version is also trying to make some waves, sitting in first place halfway through the season.
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Fresh off a 22-run outburst Friday, the question became what would the Sox do for an encore Saturday.
How about a nail-biter? Rookie Jacob Gonzalez delivered a walk-off single in the ninth inning, lifting the Sox to a 2-1 victory against the Royals in front of 28,569 at Rate Field.
“Definitely a different type of game (than Friday’s), but we’ve been in those situations before,” manager Will Venable said. “We talked about these close games, and on the heels of the Cleveland series, we just knew that these types of games were how it’s going to be in our division, and these guys played great tonight.”
Pitching dominated throughout the afternoon.
The Sox didn’t collect a hit until a Miguel Vargas single leading off the fourth inning against Royals starter Michael Wacha, who allowed one run on six hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in 7 2/3 innings.
Sox starter Davis Martin was also very effective, scattering four hits in 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
The Royals scored a run in the seventh on Carter Jensen’s bases-loaded single against reliever Sean Newcomb. Sox right fielder Braden Montgomery prevented more damage with his solid throw to the plate. Nick Loftin got caught between third and home and was tagged out to end the inning. Newcomb made a nice play earlier in the inning on a safety-squeeze attempt, flipping the ball out of his glove to the plate in time to get a runner.
Montgomery played a role offensively in the bottom of the seventh when the Sox tied the score. Andrew Benintendi began the inning with a single and was lifted for pinch runner Luisangel Acuña. With one out, the Sox executed a hit-and-run, and Acuña went from first to third on a Chase Meidroth single.
Montgomery then grounded into a fielder’s choice, with Acuña scoring to tie it at 1.
Colson Montgomery and Meidroth began the ninth with back-to-back singles. Braden Montgomery bunted and Loftin couldn’t handle Daniel Lynch IV’s throw to third that hit him in an uncomfortable area. Everyone was safe on the single.
The Royals brought the infield in and added an infielder. Reliever John Schreiber struck out Junior Perez.
The Royals kept a similar defensive alignment with Gonzalez up, and the first baseman put a grounder past shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., bringing in Colson Montgomery with the winning run.
“I wasn’t trying to hit a ground ball,” Gonzalez said. “I was trying to hit the ball in the air. With two strikes, I was just trying to put something in play and make something happen and luckily it was good.”
Reliever Grant Taylor pitched two overpowering innings, striking out four while picking up the victory.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever done that,” Taylor said of throwing 18 strikes in his 19 pitches. “Pretty cool.”
The Sox won with the 1983 team in attendance for a reunion. Before the game, the Sox ran a video tribute and then introduced the players and manager Tony La Russa. Pitcher Richard Dotson threw a ceremonial first pitch.
“(Chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf) said, ‘We have to have these guys together,’” said Ron Kittle, who earned American League Rookie of the Year honors as an outfielder on the 1983 team. “This might be the last time you see everybody all together.
“I worked with all these guys to get it three years ago. It didn’t just happen. Now we have 18 guys out here, which is pretty nice.”
Kittle hit 35 home runs on the squad that won the AL West by 20 games.
“Everybody knew a game plan of what to do,” Kittle said. “We had the best coaching staff in baseball. We also had (pitcher) Jerry Koosman, (catcher) Carlton Fisk and they led by leadership and example. And it became easy that we went out there and if somebody did something stupid, you were told instantly what was going on. That’s a great respect.
“We were a division-winning team that drew two million people to the stadium, and we were the first team to win in such a long time in Chicago, it became a popular franchise.”
Kittle is also enjoying everything he sees from the 2026 Sox.
“This young team, they play hard,” Kittle said. “Some of these guys get out of their car in the parking lot and they are already dirty. They stop balls, they dive. They don’t put their head down when they make a mistake.
“These guys have a chance to win every day. That’s what it’s all about.”
The Sox did it again Saturday, improving to 43-38 while securing a franchise-record 10th straight home series victory.
“We have everything we needed inside the building and now we’re just putting it all together,” Martin said. “We’re playing good baseball. Just continue to do our work.
“We’re only halfway, still a lot of baseball to go. So continue to do what we need to do.”
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