CHICAGO – Let’s use a little win total math to break down the meaning behind a 6-3 victory for the White Sox over the Guardians on Saturday night at Rate Field, before the eighth sellout crowd of the season.
In 2024, the White Sox won 41 games.
Yes, we promised to stop going back to that forgettable campaign. Take a quick look and move on.
For the 2025 season, the White Sox finished with 60 victories. That total was bolstered by an influx of young talent at the core of this rebuild providing an exciting brand of baseball after the All-Star break.
So, we come to 2026, with Saturday’s come-from-behind win matching last year’s win total at 60 … with 46 games to play. More importantly, it ended a season-high four-game losing streak for the White Sox (60-56) and dropped the Guardians (58-60) and Twins to three back in the American League Central with the Tigers sitting 3 1/2 behind.
There’s hardly any worry about that overall win number from the White Sox as a whole. They also aren’t paying too close attention to the standings on Aug. 8, although they understand the meaning of this series.
“Obviously, our goal is playoffs and that matters,” White Sox center fielder Tristan Peters said. “It’s huge to get a win against them.”
“Needed that one. I don’t think there’s two ways about it,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “It was a great game, especially a comeback there against Gavin Williams, who just continues to be really hard to score on. The guys kept battling.”
Cleveland grabbed a 2-0 lead against Anthony Kay (9-5) via Rhys Hoskins' two-run home run in the top of the sixth. But the White Sox didn’t stay down long, scoring five in the bottom half against Williams and Colin Holderman.
Munetaka Murakami started the rally off Williams with a solo home run down the left-field line, giving him long balls in each of his last two games and 26 for the season. Murakami connected off a 99.8 mph sinker on a 1-1 pitch.
“I don't really think of it as something special,” said Murakami, through interpreter Kenzo Yagi, of his success against high velocity. “Some balls that are coming to me, I'm able to react on time and I'm able to go through all the same routines every single time."
“He's an amazing hitter,” Williams said. “You see the power that he's put up all year. He's hit it to all fields. Just try to keep the ball on the ground with him. It's tough to do, especially with his bat path.”
Williams allowed a one-out single to Miguel Vargas before striking out Colson Montgomery and giving way to Holderman, who hit Andrew Benintendi on a 1-2 pitch and hit Braden Montgomery on a 2-2 pitch. That loaded the bases for Peters, who doubled to left on a 0-1 sinker to give the White Sox the lead. Chase Meidroth followed with a single to right to raise the margin to three.
Peters was a first-time All-Star and one of the true unsung heroes on this White Sox team. He also was mired in a 7-for-65 slump with one extra-base hit since hitting for the cycle against the Athletics on July 10.
“I faced [Holderman] before in Cleveland,” Peters said. “He threw me a fastball away and I took it the other way. The same approach. I expected him to be running two-seamers off the plate.”
Kay allowed two runs over six innings and struck out four, giving the White Sox much-needed depth leading into Jordan Hicks, Sean Newcomb, Bryan Hudson and Grant Taylor (sixth save). With numerous members of the 2005 World Series champions in attendance, celebrating the emotional and joyful retirement of jersey No. 13 for Ozzie Guillen, their manager, it seemed almost impossible for the White Sox to lose Saturday night.
There were some tricky moments along the way, provided by Williams’ excellence and Angel Martínez’s long fly ball falling a few feet short of a go-ahead three-run homer hauled in by Peters to end the seventh. But the White Sox bounced back in front of a frenzied crowd fired up for the day’s activities somewhere around four or five hours before first pitch.
Don’t Stop Believin’ applied across the board Saturday evening.
“Our fans have been showing out all season,” Peters said. “It’s really special and obviously it helps us really get into it.”
“It's a very important series, so I'm really glad that we got to win this one,” Murakami said. “We were in a bad losing streak right here, so it's good to reset and then come back today with a win."