MILWAUKEE — The Chicago White Sox pitching and hitting stood out for all the wrong reasons in Thursday’s season opener when the team struck out 20 times and issued 10 walks.
On Saturday, it was the defense.
The miscues — physically and mentally — piled up early for the Sox defensively during a 6-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in front of 36,030 at American Family Field. Munetaka Murakami went deep for the second straight game, but the Sox couldn’t overcome their defensive mistakes while falling to 0-2.
“We’ve got to clean it up,” manager Will Venable said. “There’s a lot to point to there where we need to improve. These guys, they’re playing hard, but we’ve got to clean up some of this stuff that these guys can do a better job of, for sure.”
The Sox were charged with one error. But that doesn’t tell the story.
Venable referred to the defense early in the game as “sloppy.”
Left fielder Andrew Benintendi didn’t come up with a fly ball near the wall to begin the bottom of the first, resulting in a double for Brice Turang.
“That first play, felt the wall come and just kind of decided that his route was over,” Venable said of the sequence.
Christian Yelich drove in Turang with a one-out single through the drawn-in infield.
Yelich then moved to third on a single to right by Jake Bauers. Right fielder Everson Pereira made an ill-advised throw to third that airmailed the cutoff man, allowing Bauers to advance to second easily.
“That can’t happen,” Venable said. “We talked to him right away. He’s got a good arm, sometimes those guys that have good arms get a little antsy there wanting to attack the lead runner. That’s something we work on and he knows better. We talked about it, just have to go to second base there.”
Garrett Mitchell followed with a two-run single, extending the Brewers’ lead to 3-0.
Turang’s blooper in the second inning down the left-field line fell just in front of Benintendi for a two-out double.
“A lot of ground to cover there,” Venable said.
William Contreras walked and Yelich hit a tapper between the plate and mound. Starter Sean Burke’s throw to first was off the mark, and the ball bounced away from Murakami. Yelich was credited with a single, and a run scored on the throwing error.
White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami watches his solo home run in the fourth inning against the Brewers on March 28, 2026, in Milwaukee. (John Fisher/Getty)
Murakami provided a boost in the fourth, leading the inning off with a 409-foot home run to center field against Brewers starter Chad Patrick.
“I was the first one up in that inning and I really wanted to shift the momentum going in as we were a bit behind,” Murakami said through an interpreter. “I was really prepared to go into that at-bat and thankfully I was able to get that home run.”
Center fielder Tristan Peters doubled later in the inning for his first major-league hit.
Murakami came up an inning later representing the tying run. Facing reliever Aaron Ashby with two on and two outs, Murakami struck out swinging and the score remained 4-1.
The Brewers added a run in the sixth and prevented a run in the seventh when Colson Montgomery was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first base. Instead of Murakami batting with two on and two outs, the inning was over.
“You understand what (third-base coach Justin Jirschele) saw there with (Brewers left fielder Brandon Lockridge) overrunning the ball there, but overly aggressive,” Venable said. “We talked about that one. In that spot, Mune coming up, with two outs you want to be aggressive, but that was too aggressive right there.”
Mitchell singled, stole second and later scored in the seventh, increasing the Brewers’ lead to 6-1. They stole seven bases Saturday.
“They kind of were just very aggressive out there, whether it was just the first pitch or certain counts or certain timings of the clock or something, they were definitely running,” catcher Reese McGuire said. “That’s part of their game, we know that. We’ve just got to do a better job of controlling that game.”
It’s one of the many areas the Sox need to sharpen.
“Obviously not how we want to start off,” said Burke, who allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk in four innings. “We’re capable of playing much better baseball than this, in every facet of the game.
“The Brewers are a good team, so we’ve got to be able to make those adjustments and play a little better if we want to play up to that level.”