Miguel Vargas got the onslaught going with a drive to the left-field bullpen, and the White Sox never let up after that.
By the time they were through, they matched the second-highest scoring total in franchise history. It was just that kind of night for them.
Vargas and Jacob Gonzalez homered in a 10-run third inning, and the Sox pounded the Royals 22-1 on Friday.
The Sox went deep five times in their highest-scoring game since they scored 22 in Boston on May 31, 1970. The franchise record is 29 runs at the Kansas City Athletics on April 23, 1955.
Tristan Peters hit his first career grand slam and drove in six runs. Andrew Benintendi and Kyle Teel homered.
Chase Meidroth had four of the Sox’ season-high 23 hits and scored three runs. Vargas and Gonzalez each had three hits and five RBI.
“It’s incredible,” Peters said.
“It’s a ton of fun when everybody is doing well and seeing the ball well and everybody wants to hit.”
The Sox (42-38) moved a game ahead of Cleveland (42-40) for the American League Central lead, with the Guardians losing to the Mariners. They also improved to 27-13 at Rate Field. Only the Rays have a better home record at 29-12.
“Special, it was a special night,” manager Will Venable said. “Really good stuff up and down the lineup. Everyone contributed; the guys off the bench did a nice job. As good as our offense was, I thought our pitching was great, too.”
The Sox blew this one open in the third, sending 14 batters to the plate. By the time they were done, they had their highest-scoring inning since an 11-run second in Cincinnati on May 7, 2023.
Vargas got the romp going with his career-high 18th homer, a three-run drive to left against Mitch Spence (0-2) after Gonzalez walked with one out and Sam Antonacci singled. From there, things got out of hand in a hurry.
Meidroth drove in a run with an infield single. Peters singled in two more, and Gonzalez followed with a three-run drive to right. Vargas added an RBI double, making it 10-0, before Teel grounded out to end the inning.
“Kind of feel unstoppable, they kept coming,” Peters said. “We’re like, wow, get it to the next guy. Everybody expects to hit and get a hit.”
The Sox didn’t stop there.
Benintendi made it 11-1 when he led off the fourth with his 10th homer, a drive to right against Beck Way. Teel added a two-run shot in the fifth against Lucas Erceg for his first homer this season.
Peters bumped the lead to 17-1 in the sixth when he sent a drive to right-center against John Schreiber. The grand slam was the Sox’ sixth this season.
David Sandlin (2-1) allowed one run and three hits in six innings after being recalled from Triple-A Charlotte. He walked the first three batters in the fourth before Kansas City scored its lone run on a double-play grounder by Michael Massey.
“That was really cool, getting to see everyone hit,” Gonzalez said. “Not only that, but we held them to one run. Pitching was great. Sandlin had the one inning where he gave up a run, but even then, he got himself out of it, which was huge. Just a complete game today.”