It’s not an exaggeration to say Monday night’s White Sox victory over the Guardians was the team’s biggest win in years. Entering the week with a half-game lead in the AL Central and needing one win to secure the season series and the tiebreaker, the White Sox turned to Sean Newcomb and Sean Burke to quiet the Guardians lineup. After a few early scoring chances amounted to nothing for the White Sox, the game was scoreless headed into the sixth, and Guardians starter Gavin Williams came out to start the inning at 89 pitches. With the Cleveland bullpen warming, Andrew Benintendi led off the inning with an infield single, and Tristan Peters came up for what may end up being the at bat of the year for Chicago.
Tristan Peters' sixth-inning AB could be the White Sox' turning point
After falling behind in the count 1-2, Peters began to battle. He fouled off four-straight pitches before taking ball two, then fouled off six more pitches before taking ball three. After two more foul balls, Gavin Williams missed away with a breaking ball, walking Peters after an 18-pitch battle. Not only was 18 pitches the longest at bat in baseball this season, it was the longest in White Sox history, surpassing Frank Thomas’ 17-pitch battle in 2004. And it may’ve been the at bat the White Sox have been needing. The floodgates opened, and the White Sox ended up with six runs in the inning en route to a 7-3 victory in their biggest game of the season. It was a much needed rally for a White Sox offense that's been reeling as of late.
Longest White Sox at-bat ever recorded.
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) September 15, 2026
Frank Thomas has second most at 17 pitches in 2004. https://t.co/8hyDxp09eo
The White Sox players in the dugout loved the at bat from Peters, and it came at a time when the team was in desperate need of a spark. White Sox outfielder Sam Antonacci spoke about it from his perspective after the game
“I loved it,” Antonacci said. “I was probably more happy than he was”.
The White Sox can use the momentum shift from the at bat as a rallying cry moving forward. While guaranteeing that they won’t get swept and securing the tiebreaker over Cleveland is a big deal, there’s still work to be done in the AL Central race. That starts with two more games against Cleveland. The White Sox lead is up to 1.5 games and their magic number to clinch the AL Central is 10. With two more games against the Guardians, the White Sox could leave Cleveland with a 3.5 game lead and a magic number of 6 with a pair of wins. They’ll be facing a pair of tough lefties in Foster Griffin and Parker Messick, though the former has struggled since his deadline trade to Cleveland.
The White Sox were never supposed to be there, but don’t tell the players that. The 26 men in the dugout have been outspoken all year about how good they know the team is, and they’re not going to let a rough stretch change their minds. Hopefully, Peters’ incredible at bat can be used as the team’s turning point and they’ll start to pull away to their first AL Central title since 2021.
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