PHOENIX – Remember that White Sox offense with 15 home runs in its last five games entering Thursday afternoon’s series finale at Chase Field?
How about the five-game home run streak for Munetaka Murakami, tying a franchise record, not to mention four straight with a long ball for Colson Montgomery and three straight for Miguel Vargas?
Well, they traded their power supply for nine singles over the first eight innings against the Diamondbacks, before Andrew Benintendi connected for a three-run go-ahead blast in the ninth inning of a 4-1 victory. Benintendi, who hit 20 home runs in each of the last two seasons for the White Sox, decided to get in on the wall-clearing excitement.
“It’s not for lack of trying,” said Benintendi with a wry smile. “Guys have been swinging it well. It’s been great. Homers are a quick way to score runs.”
Paul Sewald served up the center-cut four-seam fastball to Benintendi after issuing walks to Chase Meidroth and pinch-hitter Edgar Quero. Tristan Peters laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in between the free passes.
This contest, and really this 4-2 road trip against the Athletics and Diamondbacks, showed the White Sox offense at its most complete. They have the power to pulverize the opposition, as proven by Murakami, Montgomery and Vargas and then Benintendi on Thursday. They also can play small ball, work the counts and take their free passes or poke a single to right or left on a good two-strike pitch.
Their offense was absent for much of the season’s first few weeks. It has come back into play as the weather has warmed and young players have settled in while handling their first experiences with April baseball.
‘“Last year we showed after the break that if a couple of guys get it going, it seems like everybody else does too,” Benintendi said. “One goes, we all go.”
“In Spring Training, I said this is a multi-faceted offense,” White Sox hitting coach Derek Shomon told MLB.com. “There are some guys who will lay it down, there are some guys who will move it line to line, earth to sky. Some guys will draw some walks, some guys can slug. So when you have that well-rounded offense and it’s firing off, this is what we see. It’s cool.”
While the offense has rebounded overall, Davis Martin continued his ascension to the top of the White Sox rotation with another strong April start. The right-hander allowed one run on six hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking one in lowering his ERA to 2.01.
Martin has never lacked for confidence, even when he was working his way back from Tommy John surgery costing him the 2023 season and part of '24. But he appears to be pitching with a greater bravado, a greater swagger through five trips to the mound in '26.
“Where I'm at mentally is just going out there and competing the best I can and trusting your defense,” Martin said. “And I know some people will call it corny, but just truly trusting God and His plan. I'm like, just go out there, throw, execute to the best of my ability and let God take care of the rest.
“I feel like it's taking a lot off my plate, and I feel like it takes a lot of anxiety off my plate. It has let me just be myself, truly.”
Nolan Arenado’s one-out single to right in the seventh brought in right-hander Grant Taylor, who gave up Alek Thomas’ two-out double to put two runners in scoring position. But Taylor struck out pinch-hitter Jose Fernandez by firing a fastball past him at 100.2 mph.
Television cameras caught Martin hugging Taylor and kissing him on the cheek in the dugout after getting out of the tough situation. Martin was happy not to have allowed runs after the first inning and was happier to have the game remain tied, but it also exhibited the camaraderie among this young crew.
They are growing together as a group and learning how to win, improving to 10-15 after not picking up win No. 10 until May 4 last season. They are truly connected.
“We’ve seen that throughout the year and as we’ve continued to play better and better, confidence in each other grows and there’s a ton of belief in each other, belief in the group,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “You get the pitching going, the defense going.
“Obviously the bats have done a nice job. They already believe in themselves and I think that we’re a good team and obviously going on a road trip like this and playing how we did, that confidence just grows.”