The Chicago White Sox have had a habit of hitting home runs since the All-Star break.
On Tuesday, they relied on singles.
The Sox had six singles during a five-run fifth inning on the way to a 9-6 victory against the Detroit Tigers in front of 19,494 at Rate Field.
There was also a home run later in the game for the Sox, via Edgar Quero in the seventh, but the surplus of singles in the fifth put the Sox in position for the win.
Curtis Mead had a game-tying single, Colson Montgomery put the Sox ahead with a two-run single and Luis Robert Jr. followed with an RBI single during the inning against Tigers starter Jack Flaherty.
“Just consecutive quality at-bats there in a row,” manager Will Venable said of the fifth inning. “We were really grinding all night there against Flaherty, he had a really good breaking ball tonight. That’s kind of what he does. Thought we were kind of in between because of that. Saw a lot of swing-and-miss and foul balls on the heater, too. We just kept going and the guys kept grinding and we were able to string some together there.”
The Sox entered the fifth down 1-0. Kyle Teel began the inning by lining a single just out of the reach of leaping second baseman Gleyber Torres.
Quero then hit a sinking liner to center that Wenceel Pérez couldn’t corral.
Chicago White Sox catcher Kyle Teel scores during the fifth inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025, at Rate Field. (AP Photo/Talia Sprague)
Teel went from first to third on Quero’s hit. He scored when the next batter, Mead, blooped a single to left field.
Mike Tauchman singled sharply to left, loading the bases with no outs.
Lenyn Sosa struck out, but Montgomery connected on a 1-2 knuckle curve for a two-run single to right to give the Sox a 3-1 lead.
Robert had a bloop single to right, bringing home Tauchman to make it 4-1. That was Flaherty’s final batter.
“It was pretty good, man,” Quero said of the inning. “We’re fighting. We are playing pretty good. Trying to score runs and trying to help the pitchers.”
The Sox tacked on one more run later in the inning when Teel drew a bases-loaded walk.
“You have to find different ways to score,” Venable said. “It’s great when you have slug and you’re hitting homers and you have guys on base, that’s great. But you’ve got to find different ways. We’ve talked about situational hitting, much better tonight (5-for-15 with runners in scoring position). Still have some work to do, but just a really nice job of finding ways to score runs when we really needed it.”
The rally made a winner out of starter Yoendrys Gómez, who allowed one run on one hit with one walk and seven strikeouts in five innings in a game that began after a 50-minute rain delay.
“It was special because it was my first start in the majors and I’m just glad that the organization gave me the chance and also because I was able to take advantage of it,” he said through an interpreter.
Gómez made three relief appearances with the Sox from May 15-19 after being claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 10. He was designated for assignment on May 20 and outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte on May 23.
The Sox selected his contract from Charlotte on Tuesday while optioning pitcher Elvis Peguero to Charlotte.
“Gómez was outstanding,” Venable said. “I think you look at organizationally, for us to have claimed him and then gets back in the minor leagues, gets to work. Our (player development) group there in Triple A did an outstanding job. For him, as somebody who had struggled with command to find that.
“He’s got a lot of different pitches, and for him to command them like he is now, you see the results. It’s huge, a big win for our group down there and really nice to see a guy go to work and get positive results.”
The Tigers got within 6-3 when Dillon Dingler hit a two-run home run that deflected off the glove of a leaping Robert near the center-field wall in the seventh. Quero pushed the lead back to four with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh.
Quero completed a three-hit night with a two-run single in the eighth. The Tigers scored three in the ninth, but the Sox held on to even the series.
“You guys can see after the All-Star break, we have been crushing the ball, hitting a lot of homers, extra bases, playing really good baseball,” Quero said. “Young players coming in hungry, we are going to play hard and we are going to win. That’s what I see right now.”
Originally Published: August 12, 2025 at 4:55 PM CDT