White Sox win 4-1, securing series victory vs. Royals

LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune on Jun 7, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — Chicago White Sox starter Adrian Houser wasn’t feeling all that well in the sixth inning.

The training staff briefly went to check on the right-handed pitcher.

“I’ve been kind of dealing with some sickness the last few days,” Houser said. “I was running out of gas there in the last inning, almost had breakfast come up.

“I’m sure some Chicago fans wanted to see a puke and rally, but I was able to get past that and get out of the inning.”

Houser recovered and got out of the inning, wrapping up another strong start for the White Sox in a 4-1 victory against the Kansas City Royals in front of 19,099 at Rate Field.

Houser allowed one run on six hits with six strikeouts and one walk in six innings.

“I felt like we had a good mix going, was just able to work ahead and work ahead in the count, so I think that helped a lot,” Houser said. “We were able to throw the pitches we wanted to when we wanted to. (Catcher Edgar Quero) was doing a good job reading the hitters back there.

“We had a good game plan going in and stayed with it. Just a lazy fastball there to Vinnie (Pasquantino) and he took advantage of it like he should have (for a home run in the second inning). Overall a pretty good day.”

A big moment for Houser came in the fourth. The Royals had runners on second and third with no outs. Houser struck out Salvador Perez, fielded Jac Caglianone’s bouncer back to the mound and then struck out Drew Waters to get out of the jam without allowing a run.

“He’s obviously got different ways to attack the zone,” manager Will Venable said. “Different situations call for different things and he’s adaptable and able to adjust to situations. Just a smart, veteran guy that knows what he’s doing out there.”

Houser’s mindset in that situation was “just one pitch at a time.”

“That’s the only way you can do it when you get in there,” he said. “You want to try to limit the damage as much as possible and hopefully get a punch there or get a fly-ball just to try to keep them from scoring. Fortunately I was able to get a lot of swing and miss there, so it was a big inning right there.”

Houser improved to 2-1 since signing with the Sox on May 20. He has a 1.48 ERA.

“Just watching, he’s very professional about how he goes about it,” Venable said. “He can throw all his pitches for strikes. He communicates extremely well with his teammates and coaches. He’s just really efficient in everything he does. Just a real pro.”

Houser helped the Sox earn their first series win against the Royals since May 19-21, 2023. The Sox (22-43) have won three in a row — matching their season high — and four of five.

The Sox relied on their rookies for the offense.

Tim Elko hit a two-run home run in the second inning. Chase Meidroth led off the third with a home run, stretching the Sox lead to 3-1. Quero added an RBI sacrifice fly to center in the eighth.

“They have been put in a bunch of different tough spots and they’ve come through,” Venable said of the rookies. “It’s been nice.”

Venable added on Elko: “He’s making good decisions early in the count. That’s what it’s going to be. We’ve seen when all our guys get in trouble chasing early in the count, with runners in scoring position especially. He’s doing a nice job controlling the zone and not missing his pitches.”

Elko and Kyle Teel both had two hits.

“Everybody just seems ready,” Elko said of the young group. “They seem comfortable and are just playing baseball.”

They have impressed Houser.

“They’re coming up here and they’re ready,” Houser said. “They’re not scared. They’re not timid. They’re not scared of the big lights. Sometimes it gets the best of you, but these guys are coming up here, they’re ready to go.

“They’re putting the work in every day and they’re locked in. So it’s great to see. Like I told the guys, this is a good ball club. The record doesn’t reflect that right now, but this team’s a really good team.”

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