CHICAGO ¨C The White Sox held a nine-run lead in the seventh inning of what ended up as a 9-0 shellacking of the Twins during Monday afternoon¡¯s series opener at Rate Field.
Martín Pérez, who was making his White Sox regular season debut, was pitching a no-hitter through six. He was at 93 pitches, so there was no chance the veteran southpaw would complete this piece of history on his own, but manager Will Venable presented the opportunity for the free agent acquisition to voice how he felt.
¡°I told them I feel great, but I was honest too,¡± P¨¦rez said. ¡°There¡¯s no way I can go three more innings with that kind of pitches. It¡¯s too early and I think it¡¯s a long season. So, we have to think in the future, not now.¡±
¡°He's done so much in his career, we just want to talk it through and give him the opportunity to at least discuss it,¡± Venable said. ¡°But it was the right thing for him, the right thing for our club to kind of move on there.¡±
Venable moved on to Mike Vasil, who made his Major League debut by throwing two scoreless innings. He allowed a two-out single to Willi Castro in the seventh, which probably wasn¡¯t one of the seven commemorative baseballs in his locker postgame, but that blip was the only issue for the South Siders Monday.
That, and the game-time temperature being 39 degrees. The White Sox easily worked through both.
¡°Once the sun came out, it was fine,¡± said Vasil, who had the ball he used to strike out Ty France already encased in plastic. ¡°I¡¯m used to pitching in cold weather as well, being from the Northeast. Regardless of that, in your Major League debut, I wasn¡¯t feeling a thing. ¡°
P¨¦rez walked three and hit one over his six hitless innings, matching a career high with nine strikeouts. He never topped 89.9 mph, according to Statcast, but relied on movement from his cutter, sinker and changeup to keep the Twins completely off balance. In four games, of which the White Sox have won two, the White Sox starting quartet of P¨¦rez, Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon and Davis Martin have not allowed an earned run over 23 innings.
They have given up 11 hits, walked eight and fanned 19. The White Sox are the fourth team to have a starting pitcher go five-plus innings and not allow an earned run in each of their first four games of a season since earned runs became an official stat in both leagues (1913), joining the 2019 Blue Jays, the 2013 Giants, and the 1976 Brewers.
¡°We are all on the same page,¡± said P¨¦rez of the rotation. ¡°We know what we want and we are just going to go out for one reason, to win games and trying to have a better year.¡±
¡°It¡¯s really awesome when you¡¯re out there in the bullpen and all the starters are doing what they¡¯re doing,¡± Vasil said. ¡°As a pitcher on the staff, you want to be known as a team with a great pitching staff. So far, I think that¡¯s exactly what we have.¡±
Andrew Vaughn (first inning), Andrew Benintendi (second) and Michael A. Taylor (third) homered in consecutive innings to start the game against Twins starter Chris Paddack, who was less than effective in his 2025 debut. It was the 100th career homer for Benintendi and the first of the season for Vaughn and Taylor.
Chicago's opponents' offensive output has totaled one run on a ninth-inning homer, one run in a 1-0 loss, three runs in a hard-fought 3-2 loss over the three games against the Angels, and then Monday¡¯s shutout. P¨¦rez joined Hideo Nomo (2001 with Boston) as the only Major League pitcher since 1901 to throw six-plus hitless innings with nine-plus strikeouts in his debut with a new team (per Stats Perform), as he worked through the longest no-hit bid of his career.
With Castro showing off his eephus pitch in the ninth, position players have now worked against the White Sox in two of the first four games due to the opposition¡¯s large deficit. It¡¯s a far cry from 2024, and yes, even in just four games. But it was P¨¦rez who talked about the team improving before the White Sox left Spring Training in Arizona.
Not just improving, but he actually said ¡°contending.¡±
¡°I know it¡¯s too early but we are thinking of something special late in September,¡± P¨¦rez said. ¡°Let¡¯s see how everything is going.¡±