White Sox Fall to Red Sox as Homestand Begins

The Chicago White Sox starter, Noah Schultz, managed to avoid giving up runs in a tense first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Rate Field. However, the Red Sox quickly turned things around with two home runs, contributing to a three-run second inning. Over five innings, Schultz gave up four runs in the White Sox’s 8-1 loss.

Schultz commented on his performance, saying, “I felt I had good command and good feel for the cutter but lacked the offspeed pitches I needed. I wanted to use more offspeed, but not executing the sweeper or changeup as much as I’d like to was definitely frustrating.”

The White Sox began their final homestand approaching the All-Star break with a meager four hits. Three singles came from Sam Antonacci and an infield hit from Junior Perez, witnessed by 25,392 attendees.

Red Sox starter Payton Tolle allowed only two hits and struck out six over six scoreless innings. “It’s all about the fastball with him,” White Sox manager Will Venable noted. “He commanded it well and beat us in the zone. We saw a lot of foul balls and couldn’t advance much. Then, he managed to move to offspeed as well.”

Sam Antonacci singled in the seventh inning during the game against the Red Sox at Rate Field on July 7, 2026.

The loss marked consecutive home defeats for the White Sox for the first time since losing to the Washington Nationals on April 25-26. They ended their prior homestand with a 5-4 loss to Kansas City Royals on June 28. Regardless of this result, the White Sox, now 47-43, remain alone atop the American League Central standings, holding a one-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians (47-45), who also lost, 3-1, to the Minnesota Twins.

Despite early challenges with loaded bases and one out in the first inning, Schultz struck out Romy Gonzalez and forced Caleb Durbin to line out. However, trouble ensued in the second inning. Schultz surrendered a solo home run to Andruw Monasterio, followed by a single from Connor Wong, who scored alongside Ceddanne Rafaela’s two-out, two-run homer, putting Boston up 3-0.

Venable remarked on Schultz’s struggles, “Noah struggled with command a little bit. A couple of sweepers in the zone for the homers I know he wishes he had back. Not as sharp as we’ve seen. Just struggling a bit with command and longer innings.” Schultz’s record fell to 2-6, with a 6.00 ERA over 10 starts in his rookie year. “A lot I need to work on,” Schultz added. “The walks have been high. Something mechanically that needs cleaning. Figuring out my identity as a pitcher, pitch mixes, and attacking lineups.”

The White Sox struggled offensively, with their best chance in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases with no outs but only managed to score once. Boston extended their lead with four more runs in the ninth, including a controversial play involving umpire Nestor Ceja switching a call on Willson Contreras’s hit from foul to fair.

“He obviously pointed the wrong way initially,” said Venable. “He acknowledged the mistake, but we were discussing whether it was challengeable or not.”

The White Sox aim to head into the All-Star break on a stronger note. “It’s a big week for us,” Antonacci stated. “We want to set ourselves up well for the All-Star break and put ourselves in a good position in the division. We can’t look forward too much and need to finish strong.”