TORONTO — Sean Burke had it all working on an immaculate Sunday afternoon north of the border, surrendering two hits in the White Sox’ 3-0 victory over the Blue Jays.
The tall right-hander carried over his strong month before the All-Star break with 6 ⅔ strong innings and five strikeouts to help the Sox start the second half with a series win on the road, where an up-and-coming squad has had growing pains as in their surprising run to contention.
Burke didn’t surrender a hit until the fourth inning, one of two singles the Jays mustered to go with a walk.
The Sox couldn’t find any offense either against Trey Yesavage until Colson Montgomery scratched out an infield single in the top of the fourth inning after a walk to Miguel Vargas, who came home on Andrew Benintendi’s sacrifice fly.
Montgomery smacked his team-leading 24th home run of the season with two outs in the sixth. Then Benintendi hit a double and scored on a single from Braden Montgomery, who later made a sliding catch in the ninth inning with the Jays threatening.
Colson Montgomery goes deep! pic.twitter.com/rEuUrBtC7V
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 19, 2026
Randal Grichuk made a leaping catch at the wall in the bottom of the frame against his former team to rob All-Star Ernie Clement of extra bases.
Relievers Bryan Hudson and Grant Taylor shut it down.
Burke’s effort marked his sixth straight solid outing since mid-June, which manager Will Venable attributed to “just being aggressive with the fastball.”
“You can feel it when he’s doing it,” Venable said before the game. “His confidence in it just kind of radiates from him, but I think it really starts with fastball command and feeling good that he can beat guys with it.”
He beat plenty of Blue Jays with it to lower his ERA on the season to 3.20 — edging below rotation mate Davis Martin, who sits at 3.31 after sailing through 5 ⅔ innings but losing a pitcher’s duel with Shane Bieber 1-0 on Saturday.
Martin and Burke are constantly looking to outdo one another at the top of a tight-knit rotation that has proven remarkably durable after hitting stumbling blocks at the beginning of the season.
Martin said he never felt like a big-leaguer until he made it all the way from Opening Day through the end of last season. Even that first full campaign in 2025 came with a stint on the injured list, an obstacle Sox’ starters have managed to avoid beyond demoted Opening Day starter Shane Smith’s struggles and rookie Noah Schultz’ break for a knee injury.
“It’s huge,” Martin said. “The goal at the beginning of the year was to qualify with innings, throw 162 and make every start. That’s been Sean and I’s goal and we’ve been bouncing back and forth off each other, making sure we’re doing everything we need to do recovery wise, workout wise, constantly stay on each other.
“It’s been fun to push each other a little bit,” Martin said. “We’ve all done a really good job staying healthy and continuing to press forward. It’s been a fun collective to be around.”
Like most general managers, Chris Getz is looking to bolster pitching depth before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Armchair general managers have been quick to zero in on Angels starter Reid Detmer,, but the Sox are liking what they’ve got for now.
“Every club is challenged with their starting pitching depth, and that’s something that we’ve been really lucky with, the health of our starters,” Venable said. We’ve had little spots here and there, where maybe we’ve had to give guys extra rest, and we’ve been mindful of that, but to a man, these guys have been really healthy, which is great. We do have some depth that we’re comfortable with, but at the same time, to have your guys be out there and take the ball every fifth day means a lot.”
On deck
SOX AT RANGERS
Monday: Erick Fedde (5-6, 4.15 ERA) vs. Jacob deGrom (7-5, 3.49), 7:05 p.m., CHSN, 1000-AM.
Tuesday: Noah Schultz (3-6, 5.60) vs. TBA, 7:05 p.m., CHSN, 1000-AM.
Wednesday: Anthony Kay (6-4, 4.24) vs. TBA, 7:05 p.m., CHSN, 1000-AM.