CHICAGO -- Edgar Quero absorbed somewhere around four or five direct hits on foul tips behind the plate Saturday, but the White Sox catcher was still smiling after his team’s 7-1 victory over the Tigers at Rate Field.
So, why was he so happy?
Saturday marked a shared bobblehead giveaway featuring Quero and fellow young catcher Kyle Teel, who has yet to play a regular season inning for the 2026 White Sox while dealing with right hamstring and right knee injuries.
Quero’s wife, Maira, also threw out the first pitch in conjunction with the bobblehead. As far as on-field action, four White Sox pitchers allowed one run and struck out nine against the light-hitting Tigers, and Quero launched his second home run of the season in the seventh inning among his two hits and two RBIs.
Not a bad day’s work.
“Feels amazing,” Quero said. “Especially today for my bobblehead.”
“He’s making a lot more hard contact,” said White Sox manager Will Venable of Quero. “With him it’s been the fastball and making sure he’s on time with the fastball. You’re seeing that more, it’s putting him on time to offspeed stuff in the zone like we saw today with the homer. Really good stuff from Edgar recently.”
That Quero blast came against Framber Valdez (2-4), who allowed two runs in the first and two in the seventh. Rikuu Nishida, a late addition to the starting lineup when Derek Hill was scratched with upper back tightness, delivered a two-out single for the second run of the seventh.
Colson Montgomery’s 14th home run and Andrew Benintendi’s two-run dinger off Beau Brieske in the eighth made it easy work as the White Sox won their fourth straight, improved to 5-1 on this homestand and 15-3 in their last 18 at Rate Field. They also moved to a season-best four games over .500 at 31-27.
Since April 17, when the White Sox were 6-13, they have put together a 25-14 record. This victory came as the first full game without the 20-home run power of Munetaka Murakami, who was placed on the 10-day injured list prior to Saturday’s contest with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain and will be out of action for a projected 4 to 6 weeks.
“Obviously it’s tough losing him,” said Anthony Kay, who improved to 5-1 by allowing one run over five-plus innings. “But we’re going to hand it off to the next guy and he’s going to do his job and keep it rolling.”
“We come here to play baseball. It's part of the game,” Quero said. “You get hurt. Last night he got injured but he's going to come back. We just play everyday hard and it doesn't matter. Hopefully he comes back earlier and keep helping us win ballgames.”
Kay finished 4-0 with a 1.95 ERA over six starts in May. But it was Grant Taylor who really finished off Kay’s three-strikeout effort on Saturday, entering with two runners on and nobody out in the sixth after right fielder Randal Grichuk dropped a Riley Greene fly ball.
Taylor struck out Spencer Torkelson on three pitches and retired pinch-hitter Colt Keith on a fly ball and Wenceel Pérez on a groundout to end the threat. Taylor fanned four over two perfect innings.
“He pretty much saved the day there,” said Kay of Taylor. “First and second, no outs and him to retire three guys was massive. The boys tacked on and kind of made it a comfortable win.”
“Always throwing hard, throwing in the zone, throwing his pitches,” Quero said. “He was phenomenal."
There are nothing but positive thoughts as the White Sox go for a sweep Sunday to finish out May on a high note. Yes, they are without a key cog in Murakami, but they are not without the fight and togetherness that got them to this point.
Most importantly, Quero made it through Saturday with flying colors, even while taking a Miguel Vargas foul ball to his side as he was talking with Kay in the dugout.
“Tough day, man. Sometimes behind the plate you have those days too,” Quero said. “The team is playing pretty good baseball.
“Playing hard every day and that's the mentality right now. That's the new White Sox. The 2026 White Sox: The mentality is win every day and make the playoffs."