The White Sox beat the Padres 8-2 on Friday behind six shutout innings from Noah Schultz, whose fourth career outing turned into the kind of night that can change the conversation around a young arm. Schultz worked through an early jam, then settled in as Chicago pulled away with power at the plate.
Schultz walked two Padres in the first inning and did not walk another batter after that. He also struck out two, while Fernando Tatís Jr. was the only San Diego hitter to reach against him, singling in the third inning and tripling in the sixth. The White Sox offense backed him with three long balls, including a second-inning shot from Munetaka Murakami that came with two on and two outs and moved him into the MLB lead in home runs.
That second inning was the swing point. Germán Márquez issued four walks, then Murakami drove a ball to right-center for a 6-0 White Sox lead. Colson Montgomery added a first-pitch homer to right-center with two outs in the fifth, and three singles in the eighth padded Chicago’s margin to eight runs. The Padres’ only damage came in the eighth against Osvaldo Bido, when they scored two runs before the White Sox answered with the late burst.
The context around the result gives it extra weight. Chicago entered play 5 1/2 games behind San Diego, and Murakami’s homer left him third all-time in home runs through 32 career games. For Schultz, described as a wunderkind southpaw, the outing mattered because it came in just his fourth career appearance and showed he could survive trouble without letting it spread.
The sharp edge in the game was how little of the Padres’ lineup could do anything with Schultz. Eight batters went down hitless against him, and 88.9% of the San Diego lineup failed to get a hit off the rookie left-hander. He needed 15 of 29 pitches for strikes in the opening inning, but then found enough control to finish six scoreless frames. For the White Sox, that is the part that matters now: a young starter held his nerve, and the lineup turned it into a lopsided win.