White Sox embarrass themselves again in 4-3 walk-off loss to the Royals

Never forget the head-bonking incident of 2025

In a game where the White Sox (10-26) actually looked competent for most of it, they found yet another new way to blow it and embarrass themselves, losing 4-3 in a walk-off to the Royals (21-16). It must be really fun and awesome to get to play the White Sox 13 times a year.

Sean Burke was on the mound for the South Siders, and he cruised through the first five innings, with his only blemishes being a wild pitch, two base hits, and hitting Salvador Pérez in the second. Burke was also pacing really well with his pitch count, averaging just above nine pitches per inning. The righthander also walked one to start the fifth inning, but only needed five more pitches to get all three outs — forcing a double play and a fly out to avoid any damage.

The sixth started off a bit rocky, as Burke served up a fastball slightly low and inside into Kyle Isbel’s sweet spot, who then mashed it for a solo shot to cut the lead in half at the time. Even though he gave up a home run, he was able to calm down and work his way through it. The sixth was the highest pitch count for Burke at 17, but that’s not too bad, all things considered.

On the offensive side of the ball, the White Sox had plenty of chances to score runs, putting up 10 hits and at least one base runner in every inning except for the first and last. Though they were able to take the lead in the fourth, they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and left seven on base through the first seven frames. They ultimately went 2-for-10 with RISP, but left nine on base as a team. Unfortunately, any of those nine runs would have made a hell of a difference.

Joshua Palacios broke the ice with the first hit of the game in the second, and was seeing the ball well. His second-inning base hit and sixth-inning flyout were two of the top six hardest hit balls of the day at 103.9 mph and 104.5 mph, respectively.

The South Siders had another chance in the third but couldn’t convert in either scenario. They finally started to figure it out a bit in the fourth, as Matt Thaiss led off the top of the inning with a base hit to right, and Andrew Vaughn followed suit to put Thaiss into scoring position. Finally, someone took advantage of the situation as Brooks Baldwin drove in the first run of the game on a base hit to left.

Almost giving déjà vu, Thaiss led off the top of the sixth inning with a base hit to right, and quickly moved into scoring position after a wild pitch from Seth Lugo — which essentially handed the White Sox their second run of the game. Vaughn was given a gift when Jonathan India made an error at third that allowed Thaiss to score and gave Chicago a two-run lead.

Due to his low pitch count (65) through six, Burke came back out for the seventh and got into some hot water after walking Maikel Garcia and Drew Waters to put two Royals on the bases with one out. Overall, he had a solid outing, only giving up one run and four hits, but he walked one more (three) than he struck out (two). Righthander Steven Wilson came on in relief and perfectly worked the last two outs to get out of the jam.

The Good Guys kept finding ways to get on base, and it paid off once more in the top of the eighth as Josh Rojas drove in their third run of the game, making it 3-1, White Sox. Wilson returned for the eighth and gave up an RBI double to Sal Pérez to bring the Royals within one. Right then and there was when the red flags started going up, but Jordan Leasure was clutch and was able to hold off Kansas City and maintain the lead and the false hope.

I wish I could say the same for Cam Booser and the defense, but together they combined for one of the more embarrassing innings I’ve witnessed ... at least recently. Mark Canha pinch-hit and led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk, but things went fully off the rails after that. A routine infield pop-up to Chase Meidroth quite literally bounced off of his head, putting the winning run on base. You really can’t make it up.

A bunt from Freddy Fermin loaded the bases, and thankfully, the infield fly rule is a thing that allowed the Sox to get their first out of the inning and prevented another head-bonking incident for an RBI. The run scored regardless, as Jonathan India drove a ground ball up the middle on the next at-bat. Jacob Amaya attempted to get at least one out while diving for the ball, but he couldn’t get a good grip on it, and the tying run was able to score.

With just one out, White Sox manager Will Venable pulled Brooks Baldwin in from the outfield to act as the fifth infielder in an effort to get the out at home and prevent the winning run from scoring. Sadly, it didn’t matter, and Bobby Witt Jr. walked off Chicago on a deep fly to center field. Luis Robert Jr. made a half-attempt to catch the ball, but it wouldn’t have mattered either way, but looked silly nonetheless.

This was the most White Sox way to lose a game. And lucky for us, there are still 126 more games to find new ways to look foolish. Can’t wait to do it again tomorrow!