BALTIMORE — There was Jacob Gonzalez lacing an RBI double early and a two-run double late in the White Sox’ series-opening 8-2 win Monday at Camden Yards.
Then there was Tristan Peters making a dazzling catch while running full-steam into the center-field wall, and Sam Antonacci starting an eighth-inning rally the way he has so many times in his gritty young career: taking a pitch off his body for the 17th time this season before scoring the go-ahead run. Later, he added a double.
They’re the kind of rookie contributions that manager Will Venable & Co. are coming to expect from their young, contending roster.
“When you see these young players come up and they perform well, it’s really because they are able to make adjustments, and that’s really what’s required to stay in this league,” Venable said.
The O’s drew first blood on Adley Rutschman’s RBI single in the first against Sox starter Sean Burke, who played college ball nearby at the University of Maryland. Gonzalez hit his first double in the third and scored on Kyle Teel’s infield single.
Jacob Gonzalez LACES a double to tie this game at 1 🔥 pic.twitter.com/VLhc4ehw7f
— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) June 29, 2026
Burke got into another jam in the bottom of the inning that culminated in a sacrifice fly from Rutschman to tie the game. Otherwise, it was a third straight solid start for Burke, who touched 99 mph on the radar gun while surrendering two runs, four hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in 5⅓ innings.
Peters made his incredible running catch in the fourth to rob Dylan Beavers of extra bases, but the Orioles’ Colton Cowser returned the favor the next inning, leaping at the center-field wall to rob Miguel Vargas of a home run.
Tristan Peters holds on for a spectacular running catch! pic.twitter.com/FbCiLSOAvj
— MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2026
Antonacci got plunked in the eighth and came home on a double from Colson Montgomery, who then scored on Randal Grichuk’s single.
“Everyone is very capable of coming up clutch,” Montgomery said. “We’re just getting more and more polished each day we play.”
Sweating it out
The Sox arrived in Baltimore just in time for a brutal heat wave.
“We’ll hear our performance group yell ‘hydrate’ 50 times during the game today,” Venable said, noting the conditions were all the worse for wear during a stretch of the schedule with 19 games in 20 days.
“We’re going to share the load, and that means maybe resting guys that would normally be in there every day, and maybe playing guys in spots where they usually haven’t been,” he said.
Pitchers on the mend
Rookie starter Noah Schultz was back in the clubhouse after a Triple-A rehab stint on his way back from a bout with knee tendinitis that has shelved him since Memorial Day. Venable acknowledged “it is very likely that we activate him to start on Wednesday.”
Meanwhile, Shane Smith is getting closer to a rehab assignment of his own after the biceps injury that sidelined him in early May.
“He threw a live bullpen a couple of days ago, and he’s on track to kind of get it going in games here this following week,” Sox pitching coach Zach Bove said.
The same goes for the Sox’ next top pitching prospects, Tanner McDougal and Hagen Smith, who likely would have been with the big-league squad by now if not for their respective forearm and shoulder injuries.