PHILADELPHIA — Rookie first baseman Jacob Gonzalez’s first career home run helped power the White Sox to a 6-3 victory against the hottest team in baseball on Saturday in Philadelphia.
The Sox followed a tried and true formula to draw first blood from Phillies starter Andrew Painter, who plunked Sam Antonacci for the rookie’s MLB-leading 14th hit-by-pitch to start the game, walked Miguel Vargas and served up an RBI single to Andrew Benintendi.
Chase Meidroth and Jacob Gonzalez made it 3-0 with an RBI groundout apiece, and on the 11th pitch of his at-bat, Tristan Peters lined a double down the right-field line to make it a four-spot.
Colson Montgomery smacked a 380-foot rainbow to right field for his 16th homer of the year in the third inning, followed up by Gonzalez’s first big-league dinger, a 428-foot towering shot to the second deck at Citizens Bank Park.
Colson Montgomery and Jacob Gonzalez both go deep in the 3rd inning!
Gonzalez’s first Major League homer is an upper-deck blast 🤯 pic.twitter.com/sOxpd6ohg9
— MLB (@MLB) June 6, 2026
Sean Burke surrendered solo shots to third baseman Alex Bohm and left fielder Brandon Marsh, as well as an RBI single to Adolis Garcia. In 4 ⅓ innings following opener Brandon Eisert, Burke gave up three runs on three hits and five walks to go with seven strikeouts.
Sox reliever Sean Newcomb shut down the Phillies with a stellar 2 ⅓ innings of one-hit ball with two K’s. Grant Taylor closed it out in the ninth.
Luisangel looking up
The 400-foot RBI double Luisangel Acuna knocked off the left-field wall at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night marked the longest ball he’s hit since coming to the Sox.
He fell just a few feet shy of his first home run in two years, and it was just his second extra-base hit during what has been a slog of an introduction to fans after the Luis Robert Jr. trade.
Acuna, who was out of the starting lineup Saturday, is hitting a miserable .191/.242/.209.
“He’s going about his business with more confidence,” manager Will Venable said. “Really happy for him because he’s been working so hard and really goes about his business the right way, just hasn’t had the results until recently here.”
The Sox have still gotten more playing time out of Acuna (46 games) than the Mets have gotten from Robert (.224/.327/.329 with two homers and three doubles in 24 games), who’s been out of action since late April with a back injury.
Taylor-made
Before Saturday’s game, Taylor, the laid-back flamethrower, was surprised to learn he came the fastest pitcher in Sox history to rack up 100 strikeouts, which he did earlier this week against the Twins to seal his 68th career inning pitched. Michael Kopech held the previous record, hitting the century mark for K’s in 72 innings.
“I had no idea,” Taylor said after being informed of his franchise feat. “That’s pretty cool. I’m just working on learning more about how to get big-league hitters out and getting better every day.”
The second-year right hander has sparked All-Star talk this season with a 1.93 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 32 ⅔ innings (25 games).
Quick congrats
First-base coach Jose Leger was back on the line Saturday after missing Friday’s series opener to attend his son’s high school graduation in Florida. Field coordinator Chris Denorfia provided base-running counsel in his stead.
“I’m on my fifth cup of coffee,” Leger said after catching the red-eye to Philly.