By golly, they actually did it!
For the first time since 2004, the White Sox have swept their home opening series, by virtue of a 3-0 win over the Blue Jays. It what might have been Chicago’s cleanest game of the season so far—no errors, no baserunning mishaps, and most importantly, not a single blemish on any pitcher’s stat line.
What a difference three games makes, as the team’s calamitous 1-5 start somehow feels distant in the rear view mirror. For those thinking about it, it took until May 15 for the Sox to engineer their first three-game win streak of the 2025 campaign. Maybe things really are different this time.
It was a banner day for the Davis Martin Hype Train, of which I have considered myself the Engineer since late 2024. The righty delivered the Sox first true quality start of 2026 — Sean Burke’s outing Friday would have counted, had he actually started — and gave the team’s bullpen a much-needed breather as he moved to 2-0 on the season. Martin’s stuff was as crisp as we’ve seen it all year, sitting a solid 95 mph with his heater today after living in the 92-93 mph range his last couple times out. He made use of all six of his pitches against a dangerous Blue Jays lineup, and with the exception of a third inning that saw Martin escape a bases-loaded jam, Toronto just couldn’t quite time anything up, ultimately touching him for just four hits in his six innings of work.
This is essentially what the best of version of Martin looks like. The stuff isn’t overwhelming — it never has been — but there’s more than enough of it that, if he’s clustering his fastballs to the arm side and breakers to the glove side, he can give you a quality start and a win any day of the week. Having this many pitches clustered over the middle of the plate might seem less than ideal, but when those pitches are an even mix of four-seamers, sinkers and cutters, hitters are still going to have difficulty finding a barrel unless they know exactly what’s coming.
On the hitting end, this was the definition of a “chip away” effort. The Sox got on the board in the very first inning. Chase Meidroth’s embrasure of his role as a top-of-the-lineup spark plug got things going to a great effect, leading off the contest with a double before coming around to score on a Miguel Vargas single that turned into a triple thanks to a terrible read by Jays left fielder Nathan Lukes:
A few innings later, Lenyn Sosa rewarded Will Venable for finally having the guts to let the Sox leading home run hitter from *checks notes* eight months ago face a right-handed pitcher, as a double against Austin Voth doubled Chicago’s lead after Eric Lauer was chased from the game earlier in the inning:
The final offensive strike of the day came an inning later, in similarly non-explosive fashion, as Austin Hays continued a solid start to his Sox tenure with a single to drive in Luisangel Acuña (who had a nice day himself, reaching base twice and swiping his fourth bag).
In other notable action, welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Tanner Murray! The 26-year-old didn’t reach base in either of the first two plate appearances of his big league career. But Murray had his moment in the spotlight nonetheless, saving a run in the early going with a fantastic defensive stop — and equally impressive pick from Munetaka Murakami, whose play at first base has taken just the slightest amount of heat in recent days — that had Davis Martin appropriately hyped up, it seems:
Bryan Hudson gave us all a scare with a pair of hits allowed in the seventh inning. But in a refreshing change of pace from earlier in the weekend, Jordan Leasure managed to work around it, retiring all four of the hitters he faced. With Seranthony Domínguez having pitched on back-to-back days and apparent backup closer Jordan Hicks also unavailable, Chris Murphy got the ball to close things out. He did so with little difficulty, earning the second save of his big league career.
The Good Guys remain at home for their next series, a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles, who are off to another disappointing start and are probably the South Siders’ only competition for the most dramatic fall from grace in the post-COVID baseball era. In a fascinating twist, Grant Taylor has already been announced as the opener for Monday’s game, his third “start” in four games, while the Orioles have yet to announce a starter. No matter who it is, we’ll see you there!