Often what looks like it will be a pitchers’ duel doesn’t live up to the billing, but that was definitely not the case this afternoon. Starters Adrian Houser and Robbie Ray were dominant, and relievers kept it up — Grant Taylor being the only reliever in the case of the White Sox — and it only took two hours and nine minutes for a nifty shutout victory for Chicago.

There was even some good D by the Sox, starting with Austin Slater’s grab of a 104.9 mph shot by Jung Hoo Lee in the second:

The Sox got two on in the second and then, when Ray got a little wild, started the third with a single by Vinny Capra and a walk by Chase Meidroth, but then went swinging bunt force out-K-foul out.

Houser got helped by some really bad baserunning to get out of his own jam in the sixth. The Giants started with singles by Brett Wisely and Christian Koss, with both advancing on a balk to set up men on second and third with no outs and the heart of the order coming up. Rafael Devers may have made Giants fans wonder why they traded for him when he whiffed on a changeup, at which point Wisely behaved unwisely and Edgar Quero noticed:

Despite a situation where you’d expect at least two runs, one out later the Giants were done with scoring threats for the day — they never got another runner as far as second. They tagged Houser for six shots of 100+ mph, but they forgot to hit ’em where they ain’t.

Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Ray for some reason put a fastball right where lefties love to see one, and Andrew Benintendi took advantage of the mistake:

While the game progressed Houser had one big advantage over Ray, using only 88 pitches to get through seven innings, while Ray needed 101 to get through six. That meant San Francisco had to go to the pen first in the person of Erik Miller, who gave up a double off the top of the wall to Michael A. Taylor, who then returned the favor of bad baserunning on a single by Josh Rojas:

Yep, a veteran known for his running managed to completely miss home plate with his tag and then was so slow to correct the boneheaded whiff he got tagged out.

Never mind, though, because the other Taylor, Grant, took advantage of shadows to blow through six straight Giants and get the save.

Thus the Sox moved to 27-56 and currently have a split in the series despite only scoring two runs. It will be old-timer Justin Verlander vs. the world-renowned TBA for the rubber match tomorrow afternoon.

Futility Watch

White Sox 2025 Record: 27-56, the second-worst start in White Sox history and tied for the 74th-worst start in baseball history. A 27-56 record projects to 53-109 over a full season. A year ago, the record-breaking White Sox were 22-61.

This means that once again, the two worst season starts in the 125-year history of the White Sox have come in the past two seasons:

2024 22-61
2025 26-57

All-Time White Sox Record (1901-2025, 19,289 games) 9,621-9,668 (.4988). It’s been 127 games since the White Sox had an all-time winning record. The White Sox are currently 47 games worse than .500 and falling under by 66 more games will land the team at its lowest point in its 125-year history.

Record Since the New Pope Was Revealed as a White Sox Fan 17-27

Race With the Colorado Rockies for to the Worst Record in 2025 9 games better

• 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)

12 games better, in all cases

Race to the Worst Post-1899 Record (1916 A’s, 38-124 adjusted to 162 games) 15 games better