Chicago White Sox starter Sean Burke began Friday’s game at Rate Field by walking Texas Rangers leadoff hitter Sam Haggerty on four pitches.
After consecutive five-walk outings, Burke knew he needed to make a correction quickly.
The right-hander bounced back by striking out three of the next four batters.
“Just kind of flushing, get back to my stuff,” Burke said of the approach after the walk. “Just trying to get ahead with offspeed stuff and free myself up to throw fastballs at the top of the zone, make it a little bit easier for me.”
Burke allowed one run on three hits over six innings in a 4-1 victory in front of 17,885, helping the Sox snap an 11-game losing streak against the Rangers. He struck out six and walked three in the 89-pitch outing.
“Just the crispness and the sharpness of all the stuff felt a lot better,” Burke said. “Obviously still some work to do. I think it was a little bit inconsistent with the stuff I was trying to improve today so just continuing to put the same week of work in I put in this week into next week and keep riding with that.”
The Sox (16-35) took advantage of some wildness from Tyler Mahle to build a three-run lead.
Lenyn Sosa and Josh Rojas began the third with back-to-back singles. With one out, Mahle walked Mike Tauchman. That loaded the bases for Miguel Vargas, who drew a walk to bring in the game’s first run.
Andrew Benintendi collected an RBI on a sacrifice fly to center. Luis Robert Jr. followed with an RBI single to center to give the Sox a 3-0 lead.
“Just consecutive good things in a row, and that’s what we like,” manager Will Venable said. “Having (Benintendi) back and Tauchman back (from the injured list) and kind of stretch out our lineup. We have guys who do a good job controlling the zone and grinding at-bats, and we saw that tonight in that inning.”
That was plenty for Burke, who didn’t surrender a hit until a one-out double in the fourth by Josh Jung.
“The two walks in the first inning put him in a tough spot, but he did a good job after that settling down,” Venable said. “Got the fastball where he wanted to and did a really nice job with the slider too.
“He found it, he found the zone. Obviously, his last couple starts, it’s been tough for him to be competitive in the zone. That wasn’t the case tonight after he had that first inning with a couple walks. Just recalibrated, got his stuff in the zone, and when he does that, we see how dangerous he can be.”
Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (6) is tagged out by White Sox catcher Edgar Quero, right, in the sixth inning at Rate Field on May 23, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
The Rangers scored in the top of the sixth on former Sox Jake Burger’s RBI double. But the Sox executed a relay throw well, as the center fielder Robert made a strong throw to the second baseman Sosa, who fired home to get Jung at the plate.
“Three guys making good baseball plays,” Venable said. “Luis, great job getting that ball in quickly. Sosa with a great relay. And then a nice job by (catcher Edgar) Quero to put the tag on him.”
The Sox made the most of a three-base error by right fielder Adolis García, who dropped a Robert popup near the right-field line in the bottom of the sixth to get the run right back.
Joshua Palacios drove in Robert with a single, making it 4-1. It was the third consecutive game with an RBI for Palacios.
“I’ve been feeling much better,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot of work with (hitting coach) Marcus (Thames) and (assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan) over there. Getting that work in and feeling a lot better with my direction and staying through the ball. It’s starting to show at the plate. Getting more confident out there and enjoying it.”
The Sox had eight hits, including two by Sosa and two by Chase Meidroth, who extended his career-best hitting streak to 10 games.
“It’s been absolutely sick just seeing what the guys are doing out there,” Palacios said. “Tauchman having great at-bats (with a single and a walk), Chase doing what he does getting on base like he always does, seeing Luis out there hustling on the ball to get to third to give me an opportunity to drive him in. It’s been sick and today we got to see what a healthy team looks like. So I’m excited.”