After team meeting, White Sox earn their 1st series sweep of season

PITTSBURGH -- Before fans had a chance to secure their drinks and hot dogs, before they had a chance to locate their seats, the White Sox were well on their way to the team’s first series sweep of the 2025 season Sunday afternoon at PNC Park and their first road sweep since July 1-3, 2022, in San Francisco.

The White Sox became the last Major League team to complete a 2025 series whitewash, as they cruised to a 7-2 victory over the Pirates. They outscored the National League Central’s last-place team by a 27-7 margin, while knocking out 34 hits along the way.

“It was fun,” said designated hitter Mike Tauchman of the outburst. “It was a good day for the offense, a good day for the team.”

“Just coming out aggressive,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “We talked coming out of the break that we have to make real changes in our approach to get to the fastball, and the guys responded and did a great job.”

According to Tauchman, the team met Friday before this weekend's dominance and talked about holding themselves accountable on “some things” going forward.

“Overall, I thought we executed at a pretty high level in this series,” Tauchman said.

“Every plan works when everybody is together, and I feel that’s what we’ve been doing good,” first baseman Miguel Vargas said. “We’re all together and we stacked quality at-bats. And we put everybody in a good position to get a big hit and drive in some runs.”

That plan clearly was on display during Sunday’s first inning, as Chase Meidroth doubled on the second pitch he saw from Pittsburgh starter Andrew Heaney, Austin Slater walked on four pitches and Vargas followed with a three-run blast on a 2-0 offering for his first long ball in July.

Tauchman homered two pitches later, launching a 429-foot drive, according to Statcast, into the Allegheny River. The left-handed hitter became the 52nd different player to reach the river, which has now been accomplished 84 times.

One other White Sox player has accomplished such a feat, coming on June 29, 2006. This player is one classy Hall of Famer, has 612 career homers and happens to work for the White Sox.

“Somebody said it was [Jim] Thome,” said Tauchman, who drove in three runs overall. “He’s got a little more thump than me, but it’s cool.”

Aaron Civale allowed one unearned run over six innings, striking out six, as the White Sox matched their season-high winning streak at three. They started the second half at 3-0 for the first time since 2005, when the eventual World Series champs went 5-0 after the All-Star break.

“Good fight, good baseball, guys are playing together,” Civale said. “Good defense, good pitching, aggressive out there. Good blocking behind the plate, good pitch calling, so it was just nonstop fight.”

“I think the break helped us a lot,” Vargas said. “We’ve come back like we did these three games and we’re going to be in a good spot.”

Being more aggressive offensively off the fastball, or being ready on the fastball, was one point focused on by Venable and his staff for this series, with Tauchman explaining in detail the importance of these actions.

“It’s really hard in this game if you are not competitive with the fastball, especially in the heart of the plate,” Tauchman said. “Guys throw hard. You have to be ready to go. We have a lot of guys who control the zone. The next step in that is controlling the zone but being aggressive to your pitch.

“We’ve done a good job of controlling the zone, but the next step is, ‘Alright boys, when you earn those 2-0, 3-1 counts and you are in those big heater counts, commit to it. Let it rip.’ Whatever happens after that is what happens.”

What happened this weekend was the most complete performance in recent memory for the White Sox, who recorded two series sweeps in 2024. They fell short of being the first team to score 10 runs or more in three straight games this season but left for Tampa with a very good overall feeling.

“It was a pretty complete team effort, right?” Tauchman said. “The starting pitching was pretty good, the bullpen was lights out. Just passing the baton on offense, guys picking up each other with runners in scoring position, big hits with two outs, extended innings.

“Getting ourselves in good counts by laying off some tough pitches, and you get better pitches to hit. That’s what winning looks like, what it’s supposed to look like.”