White Sox never say die, strike twice in ninth to win

SEATTLE – The White Sox are building a 2026 resume of persistence that pays off, and Tuesday night was a hard-fought example.

The White Sox entered the ninth inning trailing by a run, having been limited to two hits by two of the Mariners’ tough starting pitchers, but they managed a scrappy rally to eke out a 2-1 win and even the series at one game apiece in T-Mobile Park.

Facing Luis Castillo to start the ninth, Munetaka Murakami worked a walk and Miguel Vargas was hit in the hand by a pitch. Castillo struck out Colson Montgomery and the Mariners then handed the ball to their closer, Andrés Muñoz.

The White Sox executed a double steal to put pressure on Muñoz before Chase Meidroth delivered by punching a game-tying single past the drawn-in Seattle first baseman, Josh Naylor. Then, Andrew Benintendi followed with a single that popped out of Naylor’s glove, allowing Vargas to score the go-ahead run.

White Sox reliever Grant Taylor struck out the side in the ninth for the save, and just like that, the White Sox were back to two games over the .500 mark at 25-23 with the chance to take a key road series win Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s just incredible the way they continue to compete,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Just the competitive spirit of the group, I mean, we're getting no-hit … through five innings, and you wouldn't know it by the energy on our bench, so just awesome job by everybody.”

Things could have gotten out of hand early if not for a resilient effort by starter Anthony Kay.

The opening inning was a wild ride for the 31-year-old left-hander who bounced around three Major League organizations before excelling in Japan for two seasons and landing a two-year deal with the White Sox in December.

He gave up a one-out single to Julio Rodríguez, hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch, walked Naylor to load the bases and then gave up an RBI fielder’s choice to Patrick Wisdom. He then walked Connor Joe to load the bases again but was able to strike out Mitch Garver to escape further damage.

Something clicked for Kay after that.

He retired 15 of his final 17 batters over the ensuing 4 1/3 hitless innings, as he ended up with a final line of 5 1/3 innings, one run on one hit, three walks, five strikeouts and two hit batters.

“I just wasn't able to get into a groove early and kind of settled in after that,” Kay said. “You’ve just got to turn the page. It’s done with, over with, you can't really do anything about it now, and you’ve just got to go after the next guy and kind of just hit a full reset and then just keep trying to do your job.”

Kay did that, and so did Chicago relievers Tyler Davis, Bryan Hudson and Taylor, who combined to shut out Seattle the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, the White Sox couldn’t do much of anything against Seattle starter Bryce Miller, who was perfect through 3 1/3 innings and carried a no-hitter into the sixth, when Tristan Peters led off with a double.

Miller got Sam Antonacci to fly out to left field for the second out of that inning, and Mariners reliever José A. Ferrer struck out Murakami to end the frame.

But Chicago stuck with it and hit paydirt in the ninth.

“We’re just never out of it,” Benintendi said. “I mean, we kind of got dominated all night, it felt like. We had one hit but were never really barreling anything up, so to come out with a win, it kind of feels like we stole one.”

The White Sox will take it and head into Wednesday with momentum, although it remains to be seen if their roster will include Vargas, who was headed for the X-ray table after being drilled in the ninth, according to Venable.

“He's a tough guy who wants to be out there,” Venable said. “We’ll make sure that he's all right before putting him in there tomorrow.”