ARLINGTON, Texas (July 22) \u2014 The Texas Rangers<\/a> dropped a close one to the Chicago White Sox<\/a>, 4\u20132, on a hot Wednesday evening in Arlington in front of a crowd of 31,127. Andrew Benintendi<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>stood out in the box score with two RBI hits for the White Sox as they secured the series victory. After an off day Thursday, the Rangers begin a crucial four-game set against the Seattle Mariners<\/a>, the team they sit in front of in first place in the AL West by half a game. First pitch for the opener on Friday is set for 7:05 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Right-hander Bryce Miller<\/a><\/strong> (4\u20134, 2.27 ERA) will match up against lefty MacKenzie Gore<\/a><\/strong> (6\u20138, 4.80 ERA).<\/p>\n As for the White Sox, they’ll head back to Chicago for a seven-game homestand, beginning with three against the Houston Astros<\/a>. That series will also get underway Friday with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 pm Central at Rate Field. It will be a duel of righties as Spencer Arrighetti<\/a><\/strong> (7\u20137, 4.34 ERA) will face off against Davis Martin<\/a><\/strong> (9\u20135, 3.31 ERA).<\/p>\n Both teams traded zeroes in the first inning. The White Sox drew first blood in the top of the second off left-hander Tyler Alexander<\/a><\/strong>. He was serving as the opener for righty Cal Quantrill<\/a><\/strong>. Alexander allowed a one-out free pass to Braden Montgomery<\/a><\/strong>. He followed that up with a wild pitch that went far enough to advance Montgomery to third. Up next was Chase Meidroth<\/a><\/strong>, who plated Montgomery with a single to left.<\/p>\n The Rangers tied it up in the bottom of the second against right-hander Anthony Kay<\/a><\/strong>. With two outs and a full count, Cam Cauley<\/a><\/strong> had a big moment as he belted one to right for his first career major league home run and RBI. Some time later, a member of Rangers security tracked down the fan who caught the ball, most likely arranging a trade for the ball behind the scenes to present to Cauley for his trophy case.<\/p>\n The White Sox scored two more in the top of the fourth off Quantrill, who entered the game in the top of the third. He surrendered a leadoff walk to Munetaka Murakami<\/a><\/strong>. Miguel Vargas<\/a><\/strong> popped out to Justin Foscue<\/a><\/strong> at second to bring up Colson Montgomery<\/a><\/strong>, who drew a walk. On deck was Braden Montgomery, who moved Murakami to third by grounding into a 5\u20134 force play. Up next was Meidroth. He scored Murakami with a line-drive single to right. Montgomery (Braden, that is) was driven in on a single up the middle by Benintendi.<\/p>\n The Rangers cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the fourth. A leadoff single to right by Brandon Nimmo<\/a><\/strong> brought up Ezequiel Duran<\/a><\/strong>. He doubled to right to move Nimmo to third. Kay hit Cauley with a pitch to load the bases. Nimmo crossed the plate when Elias Diaz<\/a><\/strong> grounded into a 5\u20133 double play.<\/p>\n The White Sox were able to score an insurance run in the top of the sixth off reliever Jakob Junis<\/a><\/strong>. Braden Montgomery and Meidroth reached on back-to-back singles to left and center,\u00a0 respectively. Benintendi brought Montgomery home with a single to center.<\/p>\n The White Sox emphasized contact over power in Wednesday’s game. As previously mentioned, Benintendi plated two runs with a couple of singles. Meidroth contributed with two RBI singles in the second and the fourth innings. They also went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position.<\/p>\n The White Sox ran into some unexpected power from Cauley, who hit his first major league homer in the second. They gave up another run in that frame on a 5\u20133 double play as well.<\/p>\n Lefty Tyler Alexander made his fourth \u2018opener\u2019 start of the season, covering the first two stanzas. His final line was 1 H, 1 R-ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 34 pitches\/21 strikes. Wednesday was his longest start of the season. After a 1-2-3 first inning, Alexander walked Braden Montgomery to begin the second, who advanced to third on the wild pitch and scored on Meidroth\u2019s RBI single. It was the first run allowed by Alexander in a start this season.<\/p>\n Right-hander Cal Quantrill entered in the third and took the loss, his third defeat in his last four appearances. He is now 3\u20133 on the season. His line was 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R-ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 55 pitches\/30 strikes. Quantrill recorded a pair of three-up three-down frames, sandwiched around the two-run fourth. He bore down in the fourth to induce a foul pop-out by Tristan Peters<\/a><\/strong> to strand the bases loaded after yielding a pair of tallies in the inning. He gave way to Jakob Junis in the sixth with a 3\u20132 deficit. Over his last four games and three starts since the start of July, Quantrill is 0\u20133 with a 5.50 ERA, with six walks and seven strikeouts to raise his season ERA from 3.31 to 4.05.\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n White Sox starter Anthony Kay picked up the win to move to 7\u20134 after pitching five innings while allowing two runs, both earned, on five hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. Kay started his night off with a perfect eight-pitch first inning before allowing the solo shot to Cauley with two down in the second. He saw seven batters reach base over the next three innings but gave up one run on the Diaz double play that came with the bases loaded and no outs.<\/p>\n Kay prevented further damage that inning by striking out Alejandro Osuna<\/a><\/strong> to end it. He plunked his major league-leading 19th batter of the year, becoming the first pitcher to hit 19 batters in a season since Hunter Greene<\/a><\/strong> of the Cincinnati Reds in 2024. Kay is five HBP away from tying the Live-Ball Era (1920-present) record of 24 (Austin Adams<\/strong><\/a>, 2021). He turned in his 11th start of five or more innings pitched while surrendering two or fewer earned runs. Kay made his first career start against the Rangers.<\/p>\n The save went to lefty Bryan Hudson<\/a><\/strong>, his fourth of the season. He tossed a spotless ninth inning, striking out two.<\/p>\n After the game, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker<\/a><\/strong> elaborated on Wednesday’s shortage of offense. “We couldn’t get a runner in scoring position,” he said. “I thought we took good at-bats. We had the bases loaded and no outs (at one point) and that was kind of the difference in the game. It’s been an issue kind of the whole year, quite honestly. The bases-loaded situation and we’ve got to figure out a way to score in those situations. Put up some crooked numbers to at least tie or put us in the lead.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\nWhite Sox Strike First<\/h4>\n
Rangers Inch Closer<\/h4>\n
What Went Right for the White Sox<\/h4>\n
What Went Wrong for the White Sox<\/h4>\n
Joint Effort by Alexander and Quantrill<\/h4>\n
Kay’s Evening<\/h4>\n
Schumaker’s Postgame Comments<\/h4>\n
Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>