BALTIMORE — Noah Schultz took a no-hitter into the fifth inning Wednesday in his return from the injured list, but the White Sox’ bats and bullpen wilted on a brutally hot day at Camden Yards.
With a 6-1 loss, the Sox missed out on a sweep of the Orioles as they move on to Cleveland for the most consequential series the South Siders have played since they last had any legitimate hopes of contention in 2022. A Guardians win shrunk the Sox’ division lead to a game.
“Bummed about today, but we’ll regroup and be ready for a big series against them,” manager Will Venable said.
Sam Antonacci swatted a 388-foot home run on the second pitch of the steaming afternoon off Orioles starter Dean Kremer, but the right-hander didn’t allow another Sox baserunner until Braden Montgomery’s double with two outs in the fourth inning.
The rookie fell a couple feet shy of his third home run, and the Sox mustered only two other hits on a scorching afternoon with oppressive humidity making it feel like more than 100 degrees under the Mid-Atlantic sun.
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— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) July 1, 2026
Schultz, making his first start in over a month after a bout of patellar tendinitis in his right knee, walked the first batter he faced but bounced back with two punchouts to leave the inning unscathed.
The Oswego East product sailed until the fifth, which Tyler O’Neill led off with a solo homer. After the towering lefty surrendered his fourth walk of the game and a single, Venable pulled Schultz after 4 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts.
The O’s then loaded the bases against reliever Bryan Hudson, who served up an RBI single and a sac fly. The inning spiraled further for reliever Trevor Richards, whose wild pitch let in Baltimore’s fourth run of the game, three charged to Schultz.
“Kind of been the story of the season so far for me,” Schultz said. “Basically everybody I walk scores, so I’ve just got to clean that up.”
Baltimore third baseman Blaze Alexander tagged Richards for an RBI triple the next inning, and Leody Taveras added a solo short off Sox reliever Brandon Eisert in the eighth.
But the Sox had already locked up their first road series win since early May to follow up a torrid stretch at home with surprising success against some of the top teams in baseball. Without Munetaka Murakami in the order, they emerged with a 13-12 record in June — marking consecutive winning months for the first time in five years — with series wins over the Braves, Dodgers and Guardians.
Now they head to Cleveland to tussle for control of the American League Central, a notion that would’ve felt far-fetched a couple months ago.
“If people are doubting us or thinking this is a fluke, I think all of that should be out of the window since we’re in July now,” shortstop Colson Montgomery said, amplifying the confidence exuded all year from a young clubhouse opening its contention window ahead of schedule.
They’ve done it by slugging the second-most home runs in MLB (118) and grinding out a full-throttle brand of baseball that fans have missed out on the past few triple-digit-loss seasons.
“That’s kind of the mentality of our team,” starter Sean Burke said. “You see guys like Antonacci getting hit by pitches, [center fielder Tristan] Peters is running into the wall, [third baseman Miguel] Vargas is diving into the netting and the tarp over there. Guys are playing hard and everybody wants to do everything they can to make the play.”
Venable said he’s “not going to get caught up in where we’re at in the standings” before the All-Star break, but his players are loving every second.
“It’s exactly where we want to be,” starter Erick Fedde said. “Everybody here believes that we can win a division. Everyone believes that this isn’t something that’s going to go away, and we have a lot of fun ballgames coming up.”
On deck
SOX AT GUARDIANS
Thursday: Davis Martin (9-3, 3.00 ERA) vs. Slade Cecconi (4-6, 4.18), 5:40 p.m., CHSN, 1000-AM.
Friday: Anthony Kay (6-3, 4.50) vs. Gavin Williams (9-4, 3.81), 6:10 p.m., CHSN, 1000-AM.
Saturday: Sean Burke (5-4, 3.69) vs. Parker Messick (7-5, 2.85), 6:10 p.m., CHSN, 1000-AM.
Sunday: Erick Fedde (3-6, 4.41) vs. Tanner Bibee (2-9, 3.69), 1 p.m., Peacock/NBCSN Extra, 1000-AM.