​The White Sox offense has fallen into a deep coma. Four singles was all Chicago could muster, a faint spark in a 5-0 loss to Boston that also snapped their 10-game home series winning streak. The bats have gone absent, managing just one run across 21 innings dating back to the Cleveland series. At least the Guardians gave them a brief lifeline by getting walked off in Minnesota, because otherwise the All-Star break can’t come soon enough.
Davis Martin opened strong, hammering Boston with 10 pitches in the first inning, capped by two loud flyouts and a strikeout. Jake Bennett kept pace, and Martin delivered another clean second frame. The early glimmer of hope quickly flickered out.
Chicago’s best scoring chance came in the second when Meidroth singled, Antonacci walked, and two men were on with nobody out. Then the rally collapsed. Braden Montgomery whiffed on a high heater, Junior Perez watched strike three slip by, and Kyle Teel barely beat out a dribbler to kill the threat before it even truly began.
Boston struck back in the third, ignited by a leadoff walk to Jarren Duran, a sac bunt by Carlos Narváez, and a single by Tsung-Che Cheng. Chen hustled to third on a Teel misplay, and the trouble snowballed from there with another walk to Seigler, followed by a Ceddanne Rafaela double that pushed Boston to 2-0. A wild pitch from Martin allowed Seigler to scamper home, before Perez ended the inning by colliding with the center-field wall on a routine out.
Luisangel Acuña tried to breathe some life into the Sox with a leadoff single in the third, but the next three Chicago hitters went down in order on a flyout, a lineout, and a groundout. The recurring theme of the night.
The Red Sox added two more runs in the fourth with four straight singles, widening the gap. It was an uncharacteristic five-run night for Martin, who had allowed just four earned runs over seven home starts entering this outing. After four innings, Will Venable lifted Martin in favor of Chris Murphy for the fifth.
Murphy avoided trouble after a leadoff double and a hit batter, while Seranthony Domínguez worked around a walk to Cheng in the sixth as Teel erased a would-be basestealer at second. But none of it mattered in the end.
Antonacci singled in the fourth, only to be erased by a double play. Acuña’s fifth-inning hit went for nothing, and the Sox went quiet the rest of the way, four consecutive innings with three up, three down. Four total base hits, and zero clutch hitting—0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
Defensively, the Sox didn’t help themselves. Acuña booted a grounder, Teel let one slip through, and Martin’s wild pitch didn’t help the cause. Boston simply coasted to the shutout.
Who was the White Sox MVP? Chris Murphy earned credit for a clean inning in relief—1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. Seranthony Domínguez worked a clean single inning with a strikeout and a walk in his frame. Bryan Hudson threw a perfect one, with a strikeout, and Trevor Richards added a solid two-inning stint featuring three hits but no runs and four strikeouts. Antonacci contributed offensively with a 1-for-2, BB performance, while Acuña went 2-for-2. Meidroth had a 1-for-4 effort, striking out once. It was a night where the pitching held up better than the offense and defense, a stark reminder of how far the offense has to climb.
In the end, it was a sobering, one-sided defeat—four base hits, no big hits with runners in scoring position, and a defense that failed to provide the support the pitching staff needed. The White Sox return home to regroup, knowing they’ve got a lot of work ahead in the second half if they hope to salvage this season.