Colson’s cannon lifts White Sox to .500 in wild 6-5 win over Royals

The Good Guys finally cracked through in the second. Jarred Kelenic punched a single, Tristan Peters ripped a double down the line, and Peters barreled into third on the throw while Kelenic slid home for run number one. Moments later, Drew Romo followed with a dribbler that Vinnie Pasquantino fumbled, Peters trotted home, and just like that, the Sox were up 2-0.

Schultz kept the train moving in the third. One walk to Starling Marte, then Isaac Collins bounced into a slick 6-4-3, and Díaz went down swinging. Forty-one pitches, three innings, minimum faced every time. That’s efficiency with a capital E.

The Sox added another tally in the bottom half of the third. Vargas worked a walk, Montgomery singled, and Meidroth lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

Then things got messy. Schultz lost the map in the fourth, walking the bases full before Kansas City finally cashed in. He fanned Salvador Perez to stop the bleeding, but Nick Loftin’s sac fly and a Pasquantino two-run single knotted it at three. Pasquantino, by the way, is the first lefty to tag Schultz for a hit in the bigs.

A quick shoutout here for Sam Antonacci, who turned an ordinary two-out single in the fourth into a hustle double. Mune flew out and left him stranded, but you’ve got to love the fire that these guys are showing.

Schultz’s night ended in the fifth after a leadoff walk to Maikel Garcia. Will Venable called for Tyler Davis, who, of course, walked Witt Jr. right out of the gate. But Davis found his groove, froze Lane Thomas, and got Perez to ground into a force to wriggle out of trouble.

The bats bailed out Schultz in the bottom half of the fifth. Montgomery singled, Meidroth bunted him over, Andrew Benintendi walked, and Kelenic smashed a double off the right-field wall to plate two. Sox back in front, 5-3, though Kelenic got greedy and was thrown out stretching for three.

Davis breezed through a spotless sixth, and the Sox nearly added more in their half of the frame after Antonacci reached on a throwing error and Murakami drew another walk, but Vargas flew out to strand them.

Then came the seventh-inning escape act. Jordan Hicks came in from the pen, plunked Collins, gave up a single to Carter Jensen, and suddenly the tying runs were staring him down. Hicks shrugged, fired off a bunch of nasty sweepers, and struck out Garcia, Witt, and Thomas in a row. That’s some serious lone-wolf energy.

Leading off the bottom of the seventh against John Schreiber, Montgomery supplied the insurance, and he did it with a bang. He demolished a no-doubt homer to right field — 110.3 mph off the bat and 399 feet of pure catharsis. The blast pushed the Sox ahead 6-3 and proved to be the difference-maker.

Sean Newcomb took care of business in the eighth, even after drilling Loftin. Antonacci, meanwhile, wore his eighth pitch of the year in the bottom of the inning. Apparently, getting plunked is just his thing now. However, he got thrown out trying to steal.

And naturally, the White Sox couldn’t let the ninth be boring.

Chicago closer Seranthony Domínguez coaxed a ground out from Collins, then Jensen ripped a double. Garcia also grounded out, but Witt unloaded a two-run shot to left, instantly shaving the lead to one and aging every Sox fan by a decade. Domínguez regrouped and fanned Caglianone on a foul tip to finally nail it down.

And just like that, the White Sox are at .500.

What a time to be alive.

Who is the White Sox MVP?

Sam Antonacci: 1-for-4, 2B, CS, PO

Munetaka Murakami: 1-for-4, BB

Miguel Vargas: 1-for-4, R, BB, K

Colson Montgomery: 3-for-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, K

Chase Meidroth: 0-for-2, RBI, Sac Fly

Jarred Kelenic: 2-for-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, K

Tristan Peters: 2-for-4, R, RBI, 2 K

Tyler Davis: 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 HBB, 2 K, W

Jordan Hicks: 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 3 K, HBP, H

Sean Newcomb: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, K, H

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Who was the White Sox Cold Cat?

Noah Schultz: 4 1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 3 K

Andrew Benintendi: 0-for-3, R, BB, K

Drew Romo: 0-for-4, RBI, 2 K

Seranthony Domínguez: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, K, S

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