Chicago White Sox Reverse Negative Trends In 4-2 Win Over Toronto Blue Jays

Games like Sunday's series finale against the Toronto have always gone in the other direction for the 2025 White Sox.

Manager Will Venable's club entered the game 0-38 when trailing after seven innings. The White Sox were also 2-10 at the Rogers Centre since May of 2022. So when Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh, history strongly suggested it'd be another tally in the loss column for the White Sox.

That's not how it works, of course, as the White Sox still had two more innings at the plate to complete the comeback. In order to do so, they'd have to buck a few trends that have plagued them in close games this year.

The White Sox entered Sunday's game ranked 30th in MLB with a .213 batting average with runners in scoring position. There's been a severe lack of situational hitting lately, batting just .188 with runners in scoring position over the previous 11 games. That's one of the main reasons why they're 4-20 in one-run games, and 31 of their 53 losses have come by one or two runs.

Another reason for the White Sox poor record in close games is their shaky bullpen. They entered the game ranked last in MLB in save percentage, just 33%. For context, just two other teams have save percentages below 50%, and 23 teams are at 61% or higher. The White Sox were also tied for third with 14 blown saves, a high number considering they had the fewest save opportunities, 21, before Sunday's game.

Overcoming those season-long struggles is part of what made Sunday's 4-2 win over the Blue Jays so notable for the White Sox. After another strong outing from recent free-agent signing Adrian Houser – 6.1 innings with just two earned runs – the White Sox got a bit of help from a mistake by Toronto.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman couldn't handle a slow ground ball by Andrew Benintendi, who reached safely on the error as Austin Slater crossed home to tie the game. After falling into an 0-2 hole in the next at-bat, Miguel Vargas came up clutch and lined a two-RBI double down the third base line to give the White Sox a 4-2 lead.

There was still plenty of work to do, though, especially taking into account the aforementioned White Sox bullpen stats. Left-hander Brandon Eisert came out for the eighth and worked a perfect inning with a trio of ground outs.

Venable then called on rookie right-hander Grant Taylor for the first save opportunity of his career. Taylor allowed a leadoff single to Andres Gimenez, but quickly bounced back by inducing a double-play ground ball by Bichette. Taylor then froze Addison Barger on 2-2 cutter for the game-winning strikeout, securing his first big-league save.

The White Sox have made bullpen decisions game-by-game based on matchups, as opposed to having a traditional closer. But perhaps Taylor – their No. 6 prospect with electric stuff, including six pitches over 100 mph on Sunday – could earn more save opportunities moving forward after locking down a series win over the Blue Jays.

With this win, the White Sox improved to 25-53 ahead of a six-game homestand against the Diamondbacks and Giants, beginning Monday at 6:40 p.m. CT at Rate Field.

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