David Sandlin’s major-league debut with the White Sox began with a 417-foot homer surrendered on his second pitch to Byron Buxton, then flipped into a flawless stretch that helped Chicago roll past the Twins 15-2 on Wednesday.
When David Sandlin walked into his first major-league start for the White Sox on Wednesday against the American League Central rival Twins, the moment looked like it might get away from him on pitch two. Instead, it became the only jolt in a game that quickly belonged to him.
Sandlin, a 6-4, 220-pound right-hander, yielded a 417-foot home run to Twins leadoff man Byron Buxton on his second pitch. The ball was a low but center-cut 97.2 mph four-seam fastball, and it cleared the fence in left-center field. Buxton raced around the bases after his 17th homer produced a 1-0 lead.
Sandlin described it afterward as a weight lifted almost immediately. “I feel like that kind of took the weight off, almost,” he said. “I was like, ‘Man, it can’t get worse than that,’ you know? Like, ‘Let’s go now. Welcome to it,’ I guess.”
What happened next is what made the debut feel special. Sandlin, 25, retired the next 18 hitters in a row—the most by any White Sox pitcher in a big-league debut in the last 100 years, according to Elias. He exited after six innings with only 61 pitches, 41 of them for strikes.
He said he couldn’t remember dealing the kind of run he’d allowed against the Twins. “I feel like when I pitch best, my mind kind of goes blank and [it’s] just muscle memory out there,” Sandlin said.
He allowed only the one hit. struck out four. and walked none before manager Will Venable called on reliever Brandon Eisert to start the seventh. Sandlin said he had wanted one more inning, but accepted the plan when Venable spoke to him. “Of course, I tried to get one more [inning],” he said. “But I knew, like, it was it after [Venable] talked to me. But after that, it was just a surreal feeling.”.
Chicago’s offense made sure the start didn’t linger on that early mistake. The White Sox backed Sandlin with an 18-hit attack and their highest run output in three years, building to their 15-2 victory.
The breakout began early. Chase Meidroth hit his first career grand slam in the seventh. Munetaka Murakami followed with an opposite-field shot to left. joining Jim Thome and Frank Thomas as the only White Sox players to reach 20 homers before June. Murakami has gone deep in three consecutive games and is tied for the American League lead in homers with the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez. He also stole his first base in the majors, taking second standing up in the sixth.
Randal Grichuk added three hits and two RBI, and Sam Antonacci had his first three-hit game in the majors. The rout took shape before any of that power showed up.
Antonacci singled off Twins starter Connor Prielipp’s glove on a crazy. up-the-middle bouncer to drive in two runs in the second. Colson Montgomery lined an RBI double to the wall in left-center in the third, plating Miguel Vargas. In the fifth, the White Sox pushed the lead to 8-1 with five more runs. Grichuk drove in the first run of the inning with an RBI single. and Edgar Quero followed with a sacrifice fly. Two more runs scored on a single by Luisangel Acuna and a bad relay throw. Grichuk drove in another run in the sixth to make it 9-1.
Sandlin, called up from Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday, kept to the approach he’d promised: using his heater and “getting after people with it,” reaching a velocity up to 99.3 mph. Against the Twins, he mixed in a cutter, sweeper, curve, and changeup across a variety of speeds.
Venable framed it as a combination of precision and attitude that followed the homer. “Just incredible,” he said. “He was effective in the zone with all his pitches. There was some swing-and-miss there, gave up a lot of fly balls. Some really good plays defensively throughout the game. but he was just attacking the zone in every way he wanted to.”.
Venable also pointed to what stood out after the early damage. “He really pitched with an edge. There’s definitely a fiery side that you saw there, and I think it came out really early where he gives up a homer and gets right back into the zone [and] attacking it.”
Sandlin’s spot in the rotation had its own story. He jumped in after rookie left-hander Noah Schultz went on the 15-day injured list with patellar tendinitis in his right knee. Emerging ace Davis Martin’s start was moved back to the series finale Thursday afternoon.
David Sandlin White Sox Twins Byron Buxton major league debut Elias Will Venable Brandon Eisert Munetaka Murakami Chase Meidroth Randal Grichuk Sam Antonacci Connor Prielipp Noah Schultz patellar tendinitis Davis Martin
417-foot homer on his second pitch is wild… but good he bounced back I guess.
So he gave up a monster shot and then just shut it down? Honestly that’s the kind of thing baseball should be more of lol. Also I love that quote about it “can’t get worse”
I don’t get why it says he retired 18 in a row but the game score was 15-2… like did the Twins stop swinging or what? And 61 pitches in 6 innings sounds fake? Either way I’m glad the Sox won, but that homer already sounds like a disaster.
Wait, was this the same White Sox pitcher who always messes up on pitch two? Cuz I swear I saw Buxton hit one like that before. Also “mind goes blank” sounds like he was panicking for a sec then turned into a robot. 41 strikes out of 61 is insane though, wow.