José Urquidy walked into Target Field with something to prove. A week earlier, he’d given up five runs on six hits and four walks in just three innings against Texas — his worst outing since joining the White Sox. On Sunday, August 30, with Chicago already in a hole after the first inning, the Mazatlán native took the ball and delivered five innings of one-run relief on just 67 pitches. The Sox lost 5-1, but the brightest moment came from Sinaloa.
What Happened — and Why Urquidy’s Day Matters
Sunday was always going to be a bullpen game for Chicago. Jordan Hicks opened and surrendered three runs in the first inning; Tyler Gilbert added another in the third. By the time Urquidy got the call, the White Sox were already down big and needed someone to eat innings and stop the bleeding.
He did exactly that. Urquidy worked five innings and allowed just one run — a solo home run by Luke Keaschall in the seventh. Everything else was clean. He gave the rest of Chicago’s bullpen a breather and kept the game from getting completely out of hand.
On the other side, Twins starter Zebby Matthews carried a perfect game into the sixth inning with two outs before Drew Romo broke it up with a single. The White Sox didn’t score until the ninth, when a Braden Montgomery single plated Sam Antonacci. The 5-1 final doesn’t tell you much about what Urquidy actually did out there.
The Week That Changed the Story
On August 24 against Texas, Urquidy had been roughed up for five runs on six hits and four walks in three innings — the kind of outing that gets you written out of any postseason conversation before it even starts.
Seven days later, the adjustment was obvious. In post-game comments reported by MLB.com, Urquidy explained: «I was throwing more strikes, for sure. I think the secondary pitches were working.» He added: «I saw a lot of swings and misses trying to get them to hit ground balls or pop-ups. That was the difference.»
The shift was real — more early strikes, heavier use of the changeup. The result was the longest and most effective relief appearance of his short time in Chicago.
Before being traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 27, Urquidy had posted a 3.66 ERA with 73 strikeouts in 17 Triple-A starts — the numbers that convinced the White Sox to give up prospect Félix Doroteo. His overall 2026 ERA sits around 8.10, but that figure is weighed down by a rough stretch in Pittsburgh. The sample size in Chicago is still small and uneven. What is real is that he showed up on Sunday when the team needed him to.
Chicago Leads the AL Central With a Month to Play
Despite Sunday’s loss, the White Sox took two of three from Minnesota in the series. They finished the day at 72-63, leading the AL Central with the Twins sitting 7.5 games back and a full month of regular season still ahead.
Next up: a four-game series in Houston against the Astros — a crucial stretch as Chicago pushes toward the finish line. If Urquidy can replicate Sunday’s version of himself, the July trade will have been worth every bit of the price.
