Chicago White Sox scored 2 runs to defeat Atlanta Braves who scored 1 run at Rate Field

CHICAGO – The White Sox sit alone atop the American League Central following their 2-1 victory over the Braves Wednesday night at Rate Field.

This is not a misprint and shouldn’t really even be a cute story anymore. Sure, this team is fun to watch, but since a 6-13 start to this 2026 campaign, when some of the young White Sox crew were figuring out April baseball, they are one of the best teams in baseball.

In the second game of this three-game set, facing off against one of the best teams in baseball, the White Sox beat old friend Chris Sale, who also happens to be one of the best pitchers in the game. They scored two in the fourth off a hurler who remains one of the best in White Sox franchise history.

Rookie Braden Montgomery, who hit the walk-off homer in his debut Tuesday, doubled for his right-handed hit to start the fourth. He scored on a single to center from Derek Hill, who swiped second and then came home one out later on Luisangel Acuna’s infield grounder.

Davis Martin didn’t need any more run support in improving to 9-2 on the season. Martin was making his first start since getting roughed up by the Twins on June 2 at Target Field and struck out six over six scoreless innings.

Being in first place on June 10 is important to any team, but it’s especially significant to a White Sox organization having lost 100-plus in each of the last three seasons. This group is not surprised by where they currently are located. “No. I mean, it's a lot of these walk-off wins and stuff,” White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery said. “... We're not really surprised at all of it because we kind of expected this, and this is what we wanted. “So it's just us playing what we want to do. It's like last night, got down, but especially here at the Rate, we're never out of games.” Never would be accurate but also an understatement.

The White Sox improved to 22-11 overall at Rate Field and are 18-3 over their last 21 on the South Side. They are reaching this level of success without first baseman Munetaka Murakami, who could be out for another month with the right hamstring strain. They are reaching this level of success without much production from their catchers as a group, with Kyle Teel moving toward another injury rehab assignment to test his right knee, They have done it the last two days without Colson Montgomery, who felt tightness in his back on a swing two weeks ago but went to the trainers with the issue when it started to hamper his daily existence. Colson could have played through the situation.

But while the White Sox are focused on one day at a time, and have been since Spring Training, they have a focus on accomplishing much more than leading the AL Central in the second week of June. “Just one of those things, you know, throughout the season things kind of come up, and nothing we're concerned about at all,” Colson said. “It was just kind of getting ahead of it so it doesn't linger and get anything worse. “With our mindset and where we're thinking now, we're looking to play long term and a long time this season. So we thought this was the best thing to do.”

source: mlb.com