CHICAGO – The first word from White Sox third base coach Justin Jirschele to Drew Romo was “tag” as Miguel Vargas launched a fly ball to left with Romo on third and one out in the eighth inning of a 2-1 White Sox victory over the Mariners (19-22) Sunday at Rate Field.
Jirschele then followed with “Go, go, go, go, go.” With the ball carrying only 243 feet to left fielder Randy Arozarena, and a catcher on third with Colson Montgomery on deck, White Sox fans everywhere might have been yelling “No, no, no, no, no.”
But these are the 2026 White Sox. They push the boundaries and live with the aggressive consequences. Those Sunday consequences left them with a series victory over the Mariners and a 19-21 record within an American League Central featuring no team above .500.
“It certainly feels good,” Jirschele said. “There are times where if that’s a good throw and it’s on the money, he might be out. You have to take chances on ways to score runs and take leads like we did today. A good throw, maybe he’s out and you look like a fool sometimes, but you have to live with both sides.”
“Love it. Love it,” said White Sox starter Davis Martin, who allowed one run over six innings during Sunday’s no-decision. “From a baserunning perspective, you have all seen it already. It’s like, we’re gonna make mistakes, but we’re making them at 100 mph and sometimes it burns us. But a lot of times it’s paying off and it puts a lot of pressure on the other team to make the right play at the right time.”
That eighth inning started with Seattle holding a 1-0 lead, after Mariners starter Logan Gilbert yielded one hit over six scoreless innings and just 87 pitches. Venable marveled postgame at the right-hander’s dominance.
Randal Grichuk changed the game, leading off the eighth with a solo blast off reliever Eduard Bazardo. Romo, whose four hits have all gone for extra bases with three of them being homers since joining the White Sox, ripped a double to right and was bunted to third by Sam Antonacci.
Seattle intentionally walked Munetaka Murakami, setting up Miguel Vargas, who connected on a 2-1 pitch. Arozarena caught the ball coming in on the run, bobbled it as he prepared to throw and then airmailed his attempt over the head of catcher Cal Raleigh.
“Ball goes up, yell ‘tag.’ Told him, ‘I’ll stay with you,’” Jirschele said. “Somebody said I ran three-quarters of the way down the line with him. I don’t remember that. I think I blacked out. Yeah, just continuing to communicate with those guys and trying to stay aggressive.”
“I’m not the fastest guy,” Romo said. “So it’s more just about that ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, no’ mentality. So it’s ‘Yes, I’m going’ until he stops me. And he just told me to keep on going. I don’t know what happened. I was running and I couldn’t see it.”
What happened was the White Sox set up Seranthony Domínguez for his ninth save, but it wasn’t easy. Domínguez loaded the bases with one out before retiring Cole Young on a pop up and Brendan Donovan on a ground out.
“I tried to just focus on one pitch at a time, do my job,” Domínguez said. “It's on my mind for a ground ball or a strikeout. Fortunately, we got a short popup and then put them in a situation to be one out away."
Martin struck out nine and allowed only three hits over 105 pitches, matching his career high with 19 swings and misses, according to Statcast. His day began with a 26-pitch first inning, during which Seattle scored its only run, but he gave up nothing more in pushing through six innings and dropping his ERA to 1.62.
Bryan Hudson, whose ERA fell to a minuscule 0.95, earned the victory with a scoreless eighth. Jirschele, meanwhile, earned plaudits for his gutsy call resulting in a win.
“Just really fearless, right?” Jirschele said. “We talk about not being reckless but fearless, relentless on the base paths. Staying aggressive and not being afraid to make outs.”
“Everyone wants to win, everyone wants to be better,” Hudson said. “We are all just bouncing [stuff] off each other. It’s a really good atmosphere to get better in … It gives you something a little bit more to play for when you are playing for someone else aside from yourself. You want to back your teammate, and when you are not in there anymore, they do the same for you.”