With any luck, Hagen Smith’s best days in a White Sox uniform are yet to come. And if today’s clutch performance was any indication, that could mean some pretty special things.
Smith was dialed in for undoubtedly the finest performance of his young career, entering a 0-0 ballgame with two on and none out in the seventh inning. After falling behind 3-0 to Jared Young, Smith began dotting corners like Picasso, ultimately striking out the side and retiring all six of the batters he faced, without much of a protest.
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For a moment, it looked as if it wouldn’t be enough. But like the Tristan Peters fly ball sailing over the fence in right-center field to end the ballgame, it was just enough to squeak by in a dramatic 2-1 White Sox win over the Mets to steal another bounce-back series win.
There were a few moments throughout the early going where it appeared one team or the other might put something together. The Mets opened the third inning with a baserunner on when Munetaka Murakami was slow to cover his base on a ground ball, but it was subsequently erased by a double play upon Erick Fedde’s entrance into the game. A batter later, Francisco Lindor came feet away from his 13th longball of the season, but Braden Montgomery’s rocket throw back into the infield held him to a single, and an inconsequential one at that.
As I suspected would be the case, the Sox got their share of free baserunners. Murakami, Miguel Vargas, Andrew Benintendi and Braden Montgomery all drew free passes from Mets starter Nolan McLean, while Sam Antonacci collected his team-record 24th hit-by-pitch of the season. As has been the case for much of the second half, though, the bats just couldn’t wake themselves up in time.
Sean Newcomb’s dominance as an opener continued with two scoreless innings, and Erick Fedde continued to play the role of flexible veteran with aplomb, contributing four shutout innings of his own after taking over, inducing multiple key double plays to nip New York rallies in the bud. That makes 12 1/3 combined scoreless innings of opener and bulk relief in their last two appearances; if the Sox manage to survive the dog days of the 2026 season, Newcomb and Fedde will have played a significant part in it.
McLean notched his 16th quality start of the campaign opposite the Sox duo. Beyond the walks, only an Antonacci single blemished the righthander’s line as he held the Sox completely off the board over six innings. To the eye, it was a textbook display of effectively wild. For all the deep counts and free bases, McLean’s stuff moves so much that doing anything with it when it is in the zone appeared sisphyean at times. This is not a pitcher who knew much where the ball was going, but the stuff is of a caliber where it simply didn’t really matter.
Good luck finding something to sit on against Nolan McLean.
Still, when Smith got the White Sox to the bottom of the eighth with a scoreless game somehow still intact, it felt like there was some kind of magic in the air, magic that manifested in reality when back-to-back hits from Vargas and Benintendi snapped what felt like weeks of offensive futility in the span of a few pitches from Mets righty Dedniel Nuñez. For all the angst about the exhaustion of the bullpen amid this interminable stretch without an off day, here they were heading into the ninth with a 1-0 lead. Better, Grant Taylor was perfectly rested and ready to close things out.
Naturally, it was too good to be true. For one of the first times since the season’s midway point, Taylor simply didn’t quite have it, racking up Ks to escape the damage caused by scattered walks and singles. It was only one run of damage, and the first earned run he’s let up in several weeks. But it seemed for a moment that it would be enough damage to send the game to extra innings.
Until Peters stepped to the plate, of course:
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I get to polish off my recapping August with four consecutive weekend series clinchers, which brings me as much pleasure as I’m sure is being brought to the White Sox by their newly minted 68-62 record and successfully-protected 3 ½-game lead in the Central. The Texas Rangers are on their way into town as we speak, and just three games with them stand between the Sox and their first day off in nearly three weeks. A starter for the home side has yet to be announced for tomorrow night, but Anthony Kay and Sean Burke have already been announced as Tuesday and Wednesday’s ball-handlers. First pitch tomorrow is set for 7:10 p.m. CT, and we’ll see you there!
MVP
Tristan Peters: 2-for-4, 1B, Walk-Off HR
Runners-Up
Hagen Smith: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
Erick Fedde: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
Cold Cat
Colson Montgomery: 0-for-4, 2 K
Runners-Up
Chase Meidroth: 0-for-4
Jake Rogers: 0-for-3, 2 SO
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