After years of getting pushed around by American League Central rivals, the White Sox are suddenly thriving. A 2-1 win Sunday over the Tigers—powered by a seventh-inning homer from Colson Montgomery and bullpen shutdown—gave Chicago a sweep and left it just a
For the White Sox, division weekends used to feel like travel through a foggy neighborhood—close by on the map, hard to move through on the scoreboard.
They went through it the wrong way for much of the last two years. In a miserable 2024 season, Chicago lost a major-league-record 121 games and went 10-42 against American League Central opponents. The team showed modest improvement last season. going 18-34. but it was still their fourth straight losing record in the division.
After Sunday’s 2-1 victory over the Tigers, that old script looks like it has been shoved to the back of the shelf.
The White Sox improved to 11-3 in the division after taking all three games in the series. The sweep was their second against a Central team this season, and it came right after they took three of four from the Twins.
Entering June, Chicago is only a game behind the first-place Guardians—the one division team it hasn’t faced yet—making the turnaround feel less like a small streak and more like something that could reshape the standings.
“These are games that we want,” shortstop Colson Montgomery said. He provided the spark on Sunday with a solo home run in the seventh inning that tied the score.
To already have surpassed its Central victory total from 2024 shows how different this club is, and how far the division has fallen from the top to the rest of the pack. But Montgomery framed it more bluntly as a shift in attitude—one the Sox believe can travel with them.
“Different team, different mindset,” Montgomery said. “We have all the confidence in the world. You gotta have that mindset that you can win, you can beat everybody.”
The way they beat the Tigers also sounded like a lesson learned. Chicago didn’t just grab a lead and hope. It appeared to wait for the moment the game started to tilt, then kept pressing.
Right-hander Keider Montero held the Tigers to two hits in six innings. From there, the Sox attacked a bullpen that has struggled with late-game momentum—one that had blown a major-league-high 12 leads in the sixth inning or later.
Montgomery’s homer came with one out against Drew Anderson. After Anderson allowed the tying score. the innings changed quickly as the Sox strung together consecutive singles from Chase Meidroth and Jacob Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s first hit came in his big-league debut. Tristan Peters then delivered the go-ahead single that put Chicago ahead.
Peters said he was trying to stay ready for the pitch he wanted.
“I was looking for the changeup,” Peters said. “He liked that pitch the other day when we faced him. I didn’t face him, but I was looking at other guys’ at-bats. So just trying to fight it off until I got my pitch.”
Once the White Sox took control, their bullpen did the opposite of what Chicago’s offense sometimes had to fight through earlier in the year.
After starter Sean Burke allowed one run in 5⅓ innings, Chris Murphy—called up Sunday—joined the relief corps. Brandon Eisert, Bryan Hudson and Tyler Davis combined to hold the Tigers to one hit the rest of the way. Davis earned his first career save. Closer Seranthony Dominguez had pitched in the last two games.
Manager Will Venable linked the win to a more complete approach as the season has moved along.
“We learned last year with one-run games it’s not just about the bullpen; it’s about every phase of the game,” Venable said. “And as we’ve continued to progress in each of those departments, it’s all amounting to us having a better chance to win these closer games.”
Chicago is now 32-27 and five games above .500 for the first time since Sept. 19, 2022, when it was 76-71. The Sox have also been building momentum offensively, winning 18 games in May—its most in a month since May 2021, when it won 19 in the division.
The immediate benefit is obvious: the Central has been where the Sox can make the standings move. But the next test is waiting.
Even as the Sox celebrate this run of division success, they still have to make it last once the schedule shifts. Chicago will face the Guardians in a series at Rate Field that begins June 22.
There’s also a brutal stretch ahead before that—one that includes games against the Braves, Dodgers and Yankees.
For now, though, the Central is suddenly looking less like a problem the Sox endure and more like a place where they can compete—without needing to explain why they’re suddenly capable of doing it.
Chicago White Sox Detroit Tigers AL Central Guardians Colson Montgomery Keider Montero bullpen Seranthony Dominguez Tyler Davis Sean Burke