PHILADELPHIA — Three homers from the White Sox’ veteran platoon outfielders weren’t enough Friday night as they fell 8-6 in a series-opening slug fest against the Phillies, with Randal Grichuk swatting two solo blasts and Derek Hill adding another on a tough night for starter Anthony Kay.
Left fielder Sam Antonacci got the Sox on the board in the second inning the way the grinding rookie regularly has since joining the team: getting plunked and then sliding home on shortstop Luisangel Acuna’s double off the left-field wall at Citizens Bank Park. Tristan Peters added an RBI single off Phillies starter Jesus Luzardo.
Phillies left fielder Brandon Marsh got to Kay in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer, and they plated two more when Alec Bohm’s soaring liner bounded just wide of Antonacci’s valiant diving effort.
Later in the game, Antonacci — a natural second baseman learning outfield on the job — made an impressive jumping catch at the wall to rob Bryson Stott of extra bases.
“He’s gonna take that hit by pitch, as we know, and put in good at-bats,” manager Will Venable said. “He just runs hard, plays hard — typical Antonacci.”
Kay got the hook after walking Bryce Harper to open the bottom of the fifth inning. He was tagged for six runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
“I wasn’t aggressive enough early in the counts, and it led to some deep counts, and that second inning, I got burned,” said Kay, whose ERA rose to 4.40 after a run of five solid outings.
Grichuk’s homers came in the third and fifth innings, and Hill tagged Luzardo again in the sixth. Colson Montgomery tied it up for the Sox with a broken-bat single in the seventh to score Chase Meidroth, who had singled and advanced on an error and a deep flyout from Andrew Benintendi.
Randal Grichuk… AGAIN! 😤 pic.twitter.com/jwFubAA5ny
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 6, 2026
The Phillies pulled ahead on a seventh-inning sacrifice fly from second baseman Edmundo Sosa caught by Antonacci, who nearly got Kyle Schwarber sliding home. Seranthony Dominguez almost got out of the threat without more damage, but Trea Turner scored on his wild pitch.
“Getting down 5-2, 6-2, in this place with the pitchers that we faced today, is not an easy task,” Grichuk said. “So coming back, tying it up, ultimately obviously losing, but it’s positive vibes for the offense.”
Eisert to open
The Sox announced left-handed reliever Brandon Eisert (1-0, 3.55 ERA) will open the game Saturday ahead of bulk thrower Sean Burke (2-3, 3.72), against the Phillies’ Andrew Painter (1-6, 5.74). Eisert threw a scoreless sixth inning with two strikeouts in Friday’s loss.
Homecoming for Seranthony
The weekend series marks a homecoming for Dominguez, who played his first six big-league seasons with the Phillies, including their ill-fated run to the 2022 World Series against the Astros.
“A lot of good moments and memories are running through my mind,” said Dominguez, who caught up with former teammates Cristopher Sanchez and Jose Alvarado before the game. “It’s another day and another blessing to be in this building.”
The big-money reliever said he feels some similarities between the Sox’ clubhouse and the ones he was in that made deep postseason runs in Philadelphia and Toronto.
“The focus is always on today, and what can we do to have the win today,” he said.
Coming and going
Outfielder Everson Pereira started a rehab assignment Friday at Triple-A Charlotte on his way back from the pectoral strain that has sidelined him since April 29.
Pereira had impressed between his two stints on the injured list this season, the other for a sprained ankle. He batted .250/.310/.453 with three homers, four doubles and a penchant for showing some emotion on the field during his first 18 games with the Sox.
Injured left fielder Austin Hays was back with the team in Philadelphia after his rehab stint was shut down when a calf injury barked back up on him. Venable said it would be beneficial for Hays “to be around the guys a little bit, get treatment here, and just hit the reset button a little bit.”
“Hopefully, just with a couple days of rest and some treatment, he’ll be back on the right track,” Venable said.
Reliever Tyler Gilbert rejoined the active roster after several days on the family medical emergency list, relegating lefty Chris Murphy back to Charlotte.