Six-Run Sixth Buries Cleveland as White Sox Roll 7-3

Chicago blew the game open with six runs in the sixth inning, turning a scoreless stalemate into a rout. Miguel Vargas punctuated the carnage with a 392-foot homer to left, and the White Sox never looked back.

For five innings, this looked like a pitchers' duel worth watching. Sean Burke threw five shutout innings for Chicago — 4 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, zero earned runs — while Gavin Williams matched zeros on the scoreboard despite walking three and striking out seven. Then the sixth inning happened, and it happened all at once.

The avalanche started with an error. C. Montgomery grounded into a fielder's choice, but a throwing error by first baseman Lowe let Benintendi score and left Peters safe at third. That's when Cleveland's win probability cratered — swinging from 39% to 24% on a single chaotic play. Meidroth followed with a single to left, Peters scored, and the White Sox were up 2-0. Then Teel doubled to left, scoring both C. Montgomery and Meidroth to make it 4-0. Vargas finished the inning off in style, launching a 392-foot shot to left that scored Teel and pushed Chicago to 6-0. Cleveland got one back on an error of their own — a fielding miscue by shortstop C. Montgomery that let Bailey score — but the damage was done. Six runs, a mix of timely hitting and Cleveland's own self-destruction, and the game was effectively over.

The story of the night was Benintendi, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI and added a ninth-inning single to right that scored Vargas and stretched the lead to 7-1. Hagen Smith was quietly excellent out of the Chicago bullpen — 2.0 innings, 1 hit, 0 earned runs, 3 strikeouts — and appears to have been the right call to bridge to the finish. Cleveland's David Fry hit a 410-foot homer to left in the ninth that scored Adell and made it 7-3, but that was cosmetic. Slade Cecconi threw 2.1 innings of hitless relief for Cleveland with 4 strikeouts, which looks like too little, too late. Chicago's offense did enough damage in one inning to make the final score feel inevitable long before it was official.