The White Sox (19-42) bounced back in shocking fashion on Tuesday, as the pitching staff was lights-out in holding the Tigers (40-22) to just one runs in their blowout 8-1 win — earning Shane Smith his second win of the year. The South Siders still got into a few jams, but they were able to work through them efficiently without their regularly-scheduled implosion. It also certainly helped that the offense erupted for 10 hits and went 5-for-9 (.556) with runners in scoring position.

Smith began the game with a walk but was able to shake it off to turn a double play and shut Kerry Carpenter down — there would be no three-homer night if Smith had anything to say about it. Similarly in the second, Shane allowed a single to Riley Greene, but then worked through the Tigers in order to end any potential scoring threat.

The third inning is where Smith experienced his first jam, giving up a base hit to Javy Báez and walking Gleyber Torres just for Carpenter to come up in a clutch situation once again. Smith locked in and struck Carpenter out for his fourth K of the game:

Smith continued to cruise through the fourth with just one hit given up, and was even better through the fifth — finally getting a 1-2-3 inning and retiring the Tigers in order. With 81 pitches through five, Smith came back out for the sixth to face the Detroit lineup a third time. He forced Torres to fly out for the first of the inning, and that’s when Will Venable chose to insert lefthander Cam Booser to close out the sixth.

Once again, Smith was phenomenal, and is really starting to cement himself as the ace of this ballclub. He gave up just three hits in his 5 ⅓ innings of work, and walked just the two early on in the game while striking out six. Smith chiseled his ERA down a bit to 2.45, and sits among the best pitchers in the league.

Detroit went with a bullpen game today, but the White Sox offense didn’t seem to realize it early on, carrying its struggles over from Monday’s game by failing to get a hit for the first three innings. The lone South Side baserunner came from a Miguel Vargas walk in the first, but Andrew Benintendi struck out to end that inning. Beau Brieske was just the opener tonight for the Tigers, but he was effective enough at keeping the Sox off the bases.

Vargas broke the seal in the bottom of the fourth with a base hit. A bit of chaos ensued, as Austin Slater reached on an error and Edgar Quero walked to load the bases. Because it’s the White Sox, Michael A. Taylor walked to “drive in” the first run of the game:

The South Siders didn’t do anything in the fifth, and entered the bottom of the sixth still with just one hit as a team … but on track for a win. Apparently all they needed was Taylor to come back up to the plate, as he capitalized on some mistakes the Tigers made earlier in the infield by launching a three-run shot to left center to put the Sox up, 4-0. Taylor ended the day 1-for-2 with the homer, two walks, two runs scored, and four RBIs — accounting for half of the White Sox runs.

Jordan Leasure was tasked with protecting the four-run lead and had plenty of run support to work with. Thankfully he did have the added protection, because he gave up a run very quickly on a base hit up the middle and a subsequent RBI double to the left field corner. Leasure recovered to set the next three batters down in order to get out of the inning and flip it back to the offense still up three runs (4-1).

Meidroth walked and then was caught on an attempted steal after he broke early. Vargas finished the at-bat with yet another hit — his second of the night and the fourth-hardest hit ball of the game at 104.1 mph. Benintendi punched a ball through the left side of the infield for a base hit, which very well could have scored Meidroth had he still been on base. Sigh.

Slater piled on the runs after that with a double smoked off of the left center wall, scoring both Vargas and Benintendi to put the Sox up, 6-1. Yet another situation where they took advantage of runners in scoring position — not something they have been doing a lot of this season, to say the least.

Leasure came out again for the top of the eighth with an even bigger cushion, though he walked Gleyber to lead off the inning and got the hook from Venable. Brandon Eisert took over, but also ended up in a jam after loading the bases with just one out — making sure to keep everyone on their toes. Eisert did work out of it though, with a massive strikeout on a full count to Wenceel Pérez and a fly out to right as Mike Tauchman made a nice play running back towards the wall.

The Good Guys kept the momentum rolling in the bottom of the eighth, as Taylor walked and Vinny Capra poked a single through the infield. Tauchman and Meidroth followed that up with back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead further for the Sox, 8-1.

Out for the third time since he signed with Chicago on May 30, Dan Altavilla closed out the game with one solid inning without giving up any hits. Báez smoked the hardest-hit ball of the game (110 mph), but the defense was able to handle it and back up Altavilla to get the last outs:

Futility Watch

White Sox 2025 Record: 19-42, the second-worst start in White Sox history and tied for the 57th-worst start in baseball history. A 19-42 record projects to 50-112 over a full season. A year ago, the record-breaking White Sox were 15-46.

All-Time White Sox Record (1901-2025, 19,267 games) 9,613-9,654 (.4989). It’s been 105 games since the White Sox had an all-time winning record.

Record Since the New Pope Was Revealed as a White Sox Fan 9-14

• Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2024 White Sox, 41-121)
• Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120-1, finished three percentage points worse than the 2024 White Sox)
• Race to the Most White Sox Losses (2024, 121)
• Race to the Worst White Sox Record (2024, 41-121)

Nine games better, in all cases

Race to the Worst Post-1899 Record (1916 A’s, 38-124 adjusted to 162 games) 12 games better