White Sox opener strategy works ... sort of

Give White Sox manager Will Venable credit for trying something new. 

The Athletics have a left-handed-dominant top of the batting order, and the Sox have nothing but right-handers in their starting rotation. 

It's a matchup made in hell, so Venable used a left-handed reliever to pitch the first inning of all three games in Sacramento this weekend, and then he went to his regularly scheduled right-handed starter in the second inning.

Even though the Sox lost two of three games, it mostly worked. Tyler Gilbert pitched a scoreless first inning Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Brandon Eisert allowed one run in the first inning Sunday. 

The right-handers who followed them pitched well. On Sunday, Davis Martin tossed six shutout innings. Jonathan Cannon got his first win of the season Saturday when he allowed three runs over 7.2 innings. Sean Burke on Friday allowed three earned runs over 5.1 innings, which wasn't great, but it was an improvement over his previous outings.

Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, April 25

Athletics 6, White Sox 5: The Sox took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth, but Burke got in trouble. With two on and two outs, Jacob Wilson singled to center, and Luis Robert Jr. booted the ball, allowing both runners to score and tie the game at 3.

The A's tacked on two in the seventh and one in the eighth to take a 6-3 into the ninth. The Sox rallied against closer Mason Miller. Lenyn Sosa singled and scored on a two-run homer by Brooks Baldwin. Miguel Vargas lined out to center, and Edgar Quero just missed tying the game on a fly ball to right that was caught at the wall.

Four good ABs in a row, and then Robert Jr. struck out on three pitches, the last of which was nowhere near a strike. It was a tough game for Robert Jr. overall: 1 for 4 with three strikeouts and the crucial error that flipped the game in the Athletics' favor.

Saturday, April 26 

White Sox 10, Athletics 3: Robert Jr. redeemed himself with a solo home run in the top of the first that started a four-run rally. Quero walked, and then there were three straight RBI doubles by Sosa, Michael A. Taylor and Baldwin.

The Sox added two more in the second inning and jumped out to an early 6-0. Cannon (1-3) made it work from there with his best outing of the season. He struck out five and walked two, while allowing six hits over his 7.2 innings.

Taylor finished 3 for 5 with three doubles. Quero and Vargas also had two-hit games.

Sunday, April 27

Athletics 3, White Sox 2 (10 inn.): The Sox had 14 men reach base in this game -- nine hits, four walks and a hit batsman. You would think that would be a recipe for more than two runs, but you'd be wrong.

Joshua Palacios hit a solo home run to start the game, but the Sox didn't score again until the top of the 10th when Robert Jr. plated the ghost runner with an RBI single to put the South Siders ahead 2-1.

Quero then singled, advancing Robert Jr. to third with only one out. It looked like the Sox might break the game open. Alas, Andrew Vaughn grounded into a double play to drop his average down to .157 and kill the inning.

That proved really costly because the Sox needed another run. Jordan Leasure (0-2) gave up a homer to Luis Urias in the bottom of the 10th with the ghost runner aboard, and that provided the winning margin for the Athletics.

The Sox stranded 10 runners, went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and hit into two double plays. Woof.

The 10-game road trip is over. The Sox went 3-7 and are now 7-21 for the season. They start a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night at Rate Field.

White Sox swept by Athletics

Entering Thursday's play, the Sacramento Athletics ranked 14th out of 15 American League teams in pitching.

However, that did not stop them from shutting out the White Sox, 8-0, to complete a three-game sweep Thursday afternoon at Rate Field.

As a matter of fact, A's pitching only gave up four runs the whole series. Three of those runs came in the first inning of the first game Tuesday, on a 3-run homer by Andrew Vaughn.

In the following 26 innings, the Sox managed just a solo home run by Brooks Baldwin.

It's probably not a good sign for the South Siders to get outscored 23-4 at home in a three-game set against a team that is expected to finish near the bottom of the American League West. 

On Thursday, the Sox had only four hits off A's starter JP Sears and three relievers. 

Check out the batting averages for the 2-3-4 hitters in Chicago's lineup on Thursday. Luis Robert Jr. went 0 for 3 with a walk and is now down to .136. Vaughn managed a bloop single in this game, raising his average to a robust .138. Miguel Vargas was also 1 for 4, and he's hitting just .149.

Those three guys are supposed to produce runs for the Sox. They aren't getting it done.

Edgar Quero, a top Sox catching prospect, made his MLB debut in this game. He went 0 for 3 with an HBP, a flyout to right field, a lineout to the pitcher and a strikeout.

The Sox are 4-14. Next up, a four-game series against the Boston Red Sox that starts Friday night at Fenway Park.

White Sox take 2 of 3 from Red Sox

The Boston broadcasting booth might have given the White Sox some bulletin board material before the start of this weekend's three-game series at Rate Field.

During a Thursday game between the Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, play-by-play man Dave O'Brien stated, "The White Sox invent ways to lose games." Color commentator Will Middlebrooks added, "The trip to Chicago could be coming at a perfect time." 

Now we all get to laugh and point at Boston because the White Sox surprised most observers by taking two out of three games. Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, April 11

White Sox 11, Red Sox 1: We're used to Chicago prospects coming up and looking terrible in their major league debuts, so it was refreshing to see Chase Meidroth make a positive first impression.

The rookie middle infielder went 1 for 1 with a single, three walks and two runs scored. It's pretty cool to make four plate appearances in your first game and come out with a 1.000 on-base percentage. Meidroth became the first White Sox player to walk three times in his MLB debut since Ray Morehart on Aug. 9, 1924. 

They should give free admission to anyone who saw Morehart play, but I digress.

Boston committed five errors in this game, leading to six unearned runs for the White Sox. Michael A. Taylor went 3 for 5 with three runs scored, and Lenyn Sosa had two hits and two RBIs to lead the South Siders' offense.

The 12-hit attack made life easy for starting pitcher Davis Martin (1-1), who worked six-plus innings and allowed just one run to pick up the victory. The right-hander struck out six and walked one.

Saturday, April 12

White Sox 3, Red Sox 2: Boston starting pitcher Richard Fitts was sailing along with a 2-0 lead through five innings, but the White Sox caught a break when Fitts departed in the sixth after experiencing pain in his pitching shoulder.

Reliever Zack Kelly walked Miguel Vargas, and one out later, Luis Robert Jr. connected for his first home run of the season to tie the score at 2.

It remained even until the bottom of the ninth, when Robert Jr. worked a leadoff walk against Boston closer Aroldis Chapman. Robert Jr. eventually stole second and scored the winning run on a pinch-hit single by Brooks Baldwin.

Four Sox relievers combined to work 4.1 innings of scoreless ball. Most of the credit goes to Mike Vasil, who pitched two innings, and Jordan Leasure who got five outs across the eighth and ninth innings. Tyler Gilbert (1-0) was awarded the victory after he recorded the final out in the top of the ninth.

Sunday, April 13

Red Sox 3, White Sox 1: Former Chicago lefty Garrett Crochet got his revenge, taking a no-hitter and a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning in the series finale.

In an interesting twist, Meidroth singled with one out in the eighth to break up the no-no. Most fans will recall that Meidroth was one of four players the White Sox acquired from Boston in the Crochet trade this past winter.

Meidroth eventually scored when Matt Thaiss singled off reliever Garrett Whitlock to slash the Boston lead to 2-1. In fact, the White Sox had runners on second and third with only one out, but they could not tie or take the lead. Pinch hitter Joshua Palacios struck out, and Vargas flew out to left to end the threat.

Trevor Story homered in the top of the ninth to restore the Red Sox lead to two runs, and Chapman got three outs in the bottom of the inning to pick up the save. Crochet struck out 11 and allowed only one hit and one walk in 7.1 innings pitched.

It was a tough-luck loss for Shane Smith (0-1), who allowed two runs over six strong innings. Smith's ERA is a respectable 2.04 through his first three MLB starts. Unfortunately, run support has mostly eluded him to this point in the season.

The White Sox are now 4-11. They'll take Monday off before hosting a three-game series against the Sacramento Athletics. I'm not sure we're supposed to call the A's that, but hey, they play their home games in Sacramento, so there's that.

White Sox option Colson Montgomery to Triple-A

Full disclosure: I've been bearish on the idea of Colson Montgomery as the White Sox Opening Day shortstop this year.

I understand Sox fans are tired of watching short-term stopgaps at almost every position on the diamond. I understand Sox fans want a glimpse of the future. I understand Sox fans are starving for hope of any sort. 

But the reality is Montgomery isn't ready for the task right now.

Team management agrees. On Tuesday, the Sox announced they are optioning the No. 39 prospect in baseball to Triple-A Charlotte. I see a lot of folks on social media expressing disappointment over this decision, but it's the right call.

If we're being honest, Montgomery hasn't proven he can hit at Triple-A yet. The ballpark in Charlotte is paradise for hitters, but the 23-year-old struggled in 130 games at that level in 2024, batting .214/.329/.381 with 18 homers, 63 RBIs and 164 strikeouts in 572 plate appearances. Only a strong finish brought Montgomery's OPS up to .710.

Yes, he did hit well in a small sample size in 11 games in the Arizona Fall League -- .311/.511/.656 with three homers, 10 walks and only six strikeouts in 45 plate appearances. Alas, the AFL is a hitters' league, and it's generally void of top pitching prospects. A halfway decent hitting prospect *should* dominate in that league.

I would have been skeptical of Montgomery even if he was having a good run in the Cactus League right now. Instead, he missed about 10 days with back spasms, and after homering in the spring training opener against the Cubs, he hasn't had a hit since. He's 1 for 9 with five strikeouts.

Given the timing of the injury, it's best that he start in Charlotte. Hopefully, he performs well in Triple-A for a couple of months, and then he can come to Chicago healthy and in top form later in the season.

Where does that leave the Sox for a shortstop in the short run? It's ugly. The candidates include Chase Meidroth, who is better suited for second base; Jacob Amaya, a good fielder who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat; and Brooks Baldwin, who looks like a future utility player.

The Sox front office made a mistake by not bringing in a serviceable veteran who can handle the position. They put all their eggs in the basket of Montgomery being ready, and that is simply not the case.

But, at least they are not doubling down on this. They are acknowledging that Montgomery needs more time in the minors. It's the correct move for the player and the team.