{"id":119528,"date":"2025-06-21T04:01:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T04:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/119528\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T04:01:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T04:01:13","slug":"chicago-white-sox-end-8-game-skid-with-rout-of-toronto-blue-jays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/119528\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox end 8-game skid with rout of Toronto Blue Jays"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 The Chicago White Sox used the long ball to bring their eight-game losing streak to an emphatic end.<\/p>\n

Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. hit tape-measure home runs in a 7-1 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday at Rogers Centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a good job collectively of controlling the zone,\u201d manager Will Venable said. \u201cIt was a full team commitment offensively to shrink the zone, and we didn\u2019t miss our pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benintendi blasted a 425-foot solo home run to right field against Blue Jays starter Spencer Turnbull in the first inning. It had an exit velocity of 108.3 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be aggressive and he clipped that ball pretty good,\u201d Venable said. \u201cReally did a good job of setting the tone for the group and the rest of the guys followed. Love the damage there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert crushed a 441-foot, two-run home run to left field against reliever Mason Fluharty during a four-run third inning. It had an exit velocity of 114.2 mph.<\/p>\n

Robert is 9-for-33 (.273) with two home runs, two doubles and six RBIs in his last 10 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked good here, has the last couple of days,\u201d Venable said. \u201cReally staying through the baseball, swinging at good pitches. And you see the result today. You get excited when you see Luis do damage like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Slater and Benintendi collected RBI singles in the second inning, and Josh Rojas knocked in two with a double in the third in the runaway win in front of 36,121.<\/p>\n

The Sox (24-52) used five pitchers in a bullpen game after placing scheduled starter Davis Martin on the injured list on Friday with a right forearm strain<\/a>. Grant Taylor displayed his blazing fastball<\/a> during a 1-2-3 first inning in his first major-league start.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe pounded the zone with a plus fastball,\u201d Venable said. \u201cFor me, if you can throw 100 (mph), use that thing and see what you\u2019ve got. And he did that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox pitcher Grant Taylor delivers against the Blue Jays in the first inning on Friday, June 20, 2025, in Toronto. (Mark Blinch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

After two groundouts, Taylor ended the inning striking out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. swinging on a 99.2-mph high fastball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big takeaway was that (Guerrero) at-bat \u2014 four heaters, three up top of the zone, got some swing and miss,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWas really excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyler Alexander earned the win in the bulk role, allowing four hits and striking out two during four scoreless innings. He induced ending-inning double plays in the fourth and fifth innings \u2014 the second of which erased a bases-loaded situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a mound visit, talked through what we wanted to do (facing Tyler Heineman with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth),\u201d Alexander said. \u201cFortunately he put the ball on the ground early. That helped. The (Guerrero) double play (in the fourth), huge. Well-executed pitches and got weak contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venable said Alexander\u2019s outing was \u201camazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe continues to pitch crucial innings for us where he\u2019s attacking the zone,\u201d Venable said. \u201cHe\u2019s fearless too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox reliever Wikelman Gonz\u00e1lez, center, high-fives teammates in the dugout after making his major-league debut against the Blue Jays in the seventh inning on Friday, June 20, 2025, in Toronto. (Mark Blinch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Wikelman Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a> allowed one run on one hit with two strikeouts and two walks in his major-league debut. The right-hander, called up Friday from Triple-A Charlotte, struck out Ernie Clement swinging for his first MLB punchout to end the seventh inning.<\/p>\n

He got Guerrero to line out to Benintendi in left field with two on for the final out of the eighth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little exciting to face one of the best hitters in the world, but I trusted my stuff and I\u2019m glad I got him out,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez said through an interpreter.<\/p>\n

After several close losses during the skid, the Sox clicked across the board to return to the win column.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did a great job in every phase of the game,\u201d Venable said. \u201cPitching was outstanding, we pounded the zone all night. Defense was great, (Lenyn) Sosa<\/a> made some great plays (at second base). \u2026 Really good stuff all over the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys have been working so hard and to have it on a game like that where everyone contributed, everyone played well, it\u2019s really nice to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 The Chicago White Sox used the long ball to bring their eight-game losing streak to an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[1000,4155,5,138,49,2561,5285,11613,6646,999,4,9112,93,396,2562,24223,998],"class_list":{"0":"post-119528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-andrew-benintendi","9":"tag-austin-slater","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-chicago","12":"tag-chicago-white-sox","13":"tag-chicagowhitesox","14":"tag-davis-martin","15":"tag-grant-taylor","16":"tag-lenyn-sosa","17":"tag-luis-robert-jr","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-tyler-alexander","20":"tag-vladimir-guerrero-jr","21":"tag-white-sox","22":"tag-whitesox","23":"tag-wikelman-gonzalez","24":"tag-will-venable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114719364623653776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}