White Sox erupt for season-high 13 runs, 19 hits behind four homers

ATLANTA -- The White Sox set a 2025 single-game season-high for runs and hits during their 13-9 victory over the Braves on Monday night at Trust Park, snapping a four-game losing streak and a seven-game losing streak on the road.

As the final score indicated, the visitors needed every one of those 13 runs and 19 hits, having to sweat out a late Atlanta comeback after building up 10-1 and 13-5 advantages in the sixth and eighth innings, respectively.

“Obviously, to hang on there was great,” said White Sox manager Will Venable. “Our offense did an outstanding job the entire night.”

“These are the fun games,” said shortstop Colson Montgomery, as his team improved to 45-80. “Sometimes they are not pretty, but we closed it out and that’s all that matters.”

Montgomery wasn’t still on the field when the Braves rallied for four in the eighth and brought Eli White to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded before Jordan Leasure struck him out. Montgomery left in the bottom of the sixth with a sore left side, saying he felt it swinging on a foul ball in the top of the sixth. He continued to feel it while he was on first base but termed it more a precautionary measure.

“I feel good about it right now,” Montgomery said.

That early departure left Montgomery as the only starter without a hit. Kyle Teel and Andrew Benintendi had four apiece, while Teel, Lenyn Sosa, Brooks Baldwin and Luis Robert Jr. all went deep. Robert has 101 home runs and 100 stolen bases for his career.

Monday’s production was a welcome outburst after scoring a total of five runs during those four straight losses. The White Sox improved to a perfect 23-0 this season when scoring at least seven runs, the only team in baseball yet to lose such a game, and have won each of their last 30 games when scoring at least seven runs, dating to Aug. 12 of last season.

“We needed every one of them,” Venable said. “I just thought the competitive spirit of the group to continue to go and push and just not stopping was what we've talked about here -- and just really, really nice to see.”

“It was a great job overall hitting,” Teel said. “We ran the bases hard, put pressure on the defense, we did all the right things when it came to taking care of what we needed to and the things we could control.”

Their six runs in the fourth inning off Atlanta starter Spencer Strider topped their previous four games combined on its own. Holding a 1-0 lead in the fourth, the White Sox started the frame with a Benintendi single and the 405-foot drive from Robert.

Teel and Chase Meidroth singled, and Baldwin walked to load the bases with nobody out, followed by Mike Tauchman’s two-run double to end Strider’s night. Miguel Vargas added a sacrifice fly and Sosa singled home a run to make it 7-0 after the fourth.

Yoendrys Gómez made his second start for the White Sox, a rotation opportunity he’ll get in the short term with Sean Burke being optioned to Triple-A Charlotte prior to Monday’s contest. The right-hander allowed three runs on seven hits in five-plus innings, striking out three.

“As a pitcher, you don’t try to think much about what your offense is doing because you still have to execute your job,” said Gómez through interpreter Billy Russo. “My mentality, my mindset was attack the strike zone, attack the hitters, throw strikes. A day like today, the offense supported me. It was good, but it didn’t change anything.”

All of that support didn’t prevent the White Sox from turning to high-leverage hurlers in Leasure for the eighth and then Grant Taylor, whose two strikeouts closed out the ninth. Not the ideal pitching alignment in a game where position player Luke Williams pitched in the eighth for the Braves, but it was simply a victory cost for the explosive White Sox.

“It'll change the availability of those guys for the rest of the series,” Venable said. “But we did what we had to do to win the game and use every guy down there if we need to. Recollect ourselves and figure it out tomorrow.”

“We’ve been right there the last couple of games. Been swinging it well,” Montgomery said. “Just hasn’t been going our way. To have one of these against a really good starting pitcher too, and a really good team, it shows how we’ve been since the All-Star break.”