SAN FRANCISCO – The White Sox went hitless for eight of nine innings during Friday’s series opener against the Giants but still managed to cruise to a 9-4 victory at Oracle Park. The win raised their overall record to 26-24, compared to 15-35 through 50 in 2025.
They scored all nine runs in the fourth inning -- without a home run and with only five hits. In fact, just three of those hits left the infield.
Per Elias, it's the fifth time in franchise history -- and the first time since 2007 -- that the White Sox scored at least nine runs in a game with all of them coming in one frame.
Also, nine runs are the second-most runs a team has scored in a game in which it collected all its hits in one inning in at least the Expansion Era (since 1961).
Yes, things are going right for manager Will Venable’s crew.
“We like to look at it as more than three runs is a big inning,” said leadoff hitter Sam Antonacci, who reached base three times, scored two runs and added a stolen base. “Get that first, and we have a good chance of winning. Got to their bullpen early and set ourselves pretty good for the next two days.”
“There are lots of ways to get a run in,” said first baseman Munetaka Murakami through interpreter Kenzo Yagi. “Just one-through-nine continuing and contributing, it’s a great way to get a run going. We were able to do that today.”
That top of the fourth inning started innocuously enough for the White Sox. Antonacci and Murakami were hit by Trevor McDonald pitches and Colson Montgomery ended an 0-for-14 funk with a 3-foot single he couldn’t have rolled down the third-base line any better.
By the time the inning was complete, McDonald was out of the game, 13 hitters had come to the plate and the White Sox scored nine times. White Sox starter Davis Martin entered the game with a 1.61 ERA, so four or five runs would have worked on this night.
But the White Sox didn’t stop.
Chase Meidroth forced home the game’s first run with a five-pitch walk, followed by Andrew Benintendi’s two-run double. Edgar Quero’s fielder’s choice grounder scored a fourth, when second baseman Luis Arraez made an ill-advised throw home after making a diving stop. Derek Hill ended McDonald’s evening with a two-out single to right for a 5-0 lead.
McDonald retired the first nine hitters he’d faced entering the fourth, but was pulled with an out still to get in the fifth. Murakami delivered a three-run, bases-clearing double to left off reliever Ryan Borucki, who was in 2026 camp with the White Sox in Arizona.
“Really good piece of hitting right there,” said Venable of Murakami. “To take a slider from a lefty the other way and to hit it with authority like that, a really good piece of hitting. He continues to put himself in a good spot to do damage against quality pitches.”
This bases-loaded situation was made possible by Antonacci once again being hit by a pitch, marking him the first player in White Sox history -- and the ninth Major Leaguer in at least the past 50 years -- to be hit by a pitch twice in the same inning.
Since the start of the 2025 season between the Majors, the Minors, Spring Training, Arizona Fall League and the World Baseball Classic, Antonacci has been hit by a pitch 57 times. He had never been hit by a pitch twice in the same inning prior to Friday, but smiled while providing a succinct response to his place in White Sox lore.
“Cool,” he said.
“Grinder. He's our Cam Skattebo,” said Martin of Antonacci. “Just any way imaginable to get the job done, he's going to get the job done. And everybody knows it. To spearhead that lineup, I couldn't think of anybody better.”
Martin improved to 7-1 overall, although he wasn’t at his sharpest after the nine-run rally.
His streak of six straight starts with one run or fewer allowed and eight straight with two runs or fewer allowed came to a close, as the Giants scored three in the fifth and one in the sixth. He struck out seven, walked two and recorded 16 swings and misses, according to Statcast.
Those nine runs in the fourth did the job for Martin, representing the most in one frame scored by the White Sox since they knocked home 11 in the second on May 7, 2023, at the Reds in a 17-4 victory.
“It's great,” Martin said. “I kind of went up to every single one of them and said, 'Thanks for picking me up on a bad day.' It's always good to have a bad day when your offense scores nine.
“We just need to talk about the offense. We don't have to talk about me, because that's the reason we won the game.”