Well, look who’s sitting atop the American League Central.
Behind six gritty innings from Davis Martin, another electric performance from Braden Montgomery, and a lockdown bullpen, the White Sox knocked off the mighty Braves. The win pushed the Sox into first place, and if you’re keeping score at home, that’s consecutive nights of making one of baseball’s best teams look decidedly mortal.
Martin came out firing. The righthander needed just 13 pitches to carve through the first inning, striking out two along the way. Atlanta kept threatening throughout the evening, but every time the Braves put runners aboard, Martin found another escape hatch.
The second inning was his biggest tightrope act. Mauricio Dubón singled, Austin Riley wore a pitch, and Mike Yastrzemski’s infield hit loaded the bases with one out. Martin responded by punching out Jorge Mateo and getting Austin Wynns to line out harmlessly.
The Braves put runners at the corners in the third and got a two-out double from Mateo in the fourth, but Martin kept slamming the door. By the time he finished six scoreless innings, he’d scattered six hits, struck out six, and generated 13 whiffs while repeatedly winning the biggest moments of the game. Unfortunately, the Sox were denied a shutout line thanks to some seventh-inning misfortune.
The South Side offense finally broke through against old friend Chris Sale in the fourth. Montgomery continued his remarkable first week in the majors by leading off the inning with a double into left. Derek Hill followed with a sharp RBI single to center, bringing home the rookie and giving the Sox a 1-0 lead.
The Sox weren’t finished. Jacob Gonzalez moved Hill to third with a ground out, and Luisangel Acuña cashed him in on a ground ball that made it 2-0.
That would be all Chicago could squeeze out of the veteran southpaw, who was vintage Chris Sale for much of the night. The former White Sox ace struck out six and repeatedly escaped trouble despite Chicago forcing him to work. The Good Guys managed just one hit in 10 opportunities with runners in scoring position, but on this night, two runs proved enough.
Sean Newcomb inherited the lead in the seventh and immediately ran into trouble when Mateo singled to open the frame. After two outs, a Miguel Vargas fielding error down the line allowed Mateo to score, cutting the lead to 2-1 and saddling Newcomb with the lone run, albeit unearned, against the pitching staff.
The Sox had a golden opportunity to answer in the bottom half. Acuña singled and advanced all the way to second after an error, but a bizarre sequence followed: Tristan Peters’ bunt attempt popped out, and a successful challenge overturned an out call on Acuña’s steal of third. But Chase Meidroth’s grounder resulted in Acuña being tagged out at home, and Andrew Benintendi struck out to end the threat.
No matter.
Seranthony Domínguez handled the eighth with a clean 1-2-3 inning, and Bryan Hudson took the ball for the ninth.
Hudson retired Mateo, walked pinch-hitter Eli White, then got Michael Harris II to pop out. One final out remained. Ozzie Albies lifted a pop-up into shallow right-center, where Meidroth ranged out and made the grab to seal it.
Ballgame.
The White Sox are in first place.
And Braden Montgomery? The kid followed up his storybook debut by collecting two more doubles and scoring a run. Safe to say the curtain call wasn’t a one-night thing.
First place. Against the Braves. On back-to-back nights.
Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday.
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