White Sox Erase Three-Run Hole, Stun Cardinals in Ninth
CWS def. STL · September 12, 2026 · Final: Sox 6, Cardinals 5
Chicago entered Saturday trailing 3-0 before they'd recorded an out in the third inning, St. Louis having built that cushion in the bottom of the second on Masyn Winn's two-run double and a sacrifice fly by José Fermín.
The White Sox began chipping. In the top of the fourth, Chicago shortstop Colson Montgomery drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Munetaka Murakami, cutting it to 3-1. St. Louis pushed back in the bottom half when Nathan Church's RBI double made it 4-1, but Chicago answered in the top of the fifth with a sequence that erased most of the gap.
Murakami, the White Sox first baseman, worked a walk that plated Sam Antonacci to make it 4-2. Then, on a ground-ball double play, Kyle Teel crossed the plate to bring Chicago within one at 4-3. Moments later, left fielder Tristan Peters lined a single to center that scored Miguel Vargas and tied it at 4-4.
That tie held until the bottom of the eighth, when Cardinals outfielder Leo Bernal sent a fly ball to right-center for his third home run of the season, putting St. Louis back in front 5-4.
Chicago came to bat in the top of the ninth trailing by one, their win probability sitting at 11.6 percent. Designated hitter Randal Grichuk changed that. With Brenton Doyle aboard, Grichuk drove a fly ball to right field for his 13th home run of the year, a two-run shot that gave Chicago a 6-5 lead it would not relinquish.
Chicago White Sox 6, St. Louis Cardinals 5.
The Comeback
- Largest deficit
- 3 runs — in the bottom of the 2nd
- Win-probability nadir
- 11.6% (down 1 in the top of the 9th)
- Lead flipped for good
- top of the 9th
- Lead changes
- 1
- Final
- CWS 6, STL 5 — won by 1
Scoring Summary
| Inn. | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| B2 | Masyn Winn doubles (20) on a ground ball to left fielder Sam Antonacci. Nolan Gorman scores. Thomas Saggese scores. | 0-2 |
| B2 | José Fermín out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Tristan Peters. Masyn Winn scores. | 0-3 |
| T4 | Colson Montgomery walks. Munetaka Murakami scores. Tristan Peters to 3rd. Chase Meidroth to 2nd. | 1-3 |
| B4 | Nathan Church doubles (13) on a sharp line drive to right fielder Braden Montgomery. Nolan Gorman scores. | 1-4 |
| T5 | Munetaka Murakami walks. Sam Antonacci scores. Kyle Teel to 3rd. Miguel Vargas to 2nd. | 2-4 |
| T5 | Randal Grichuk grounds into a double play, shortstop Masyn Winn to second baseman Thomas Saggese to first baseman Alec Burleson. Kyle Teel scores. Miguel Vargas to 3rd. Munetaka Murakami out at 2nd. Randal Grichuk out at 1st. | 3-4 |
| T5 | Tristan Peters singles on a line drive to center fielder Nathan Church. Miguel Vargas scores. Tristan Peters out at 2nd on the throw, center fielder Nathan Church to second baseman Thomas Saggese. | 4-4 |
| B8 | Leo Bernal homers (3) on a fly ball to right center field. | 4-5 |
| T9 | Randal Grichuk homers (13) on a fly ball to right field. Brenton Doyle scores. | 6-5 |
Box score
▸
Line score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CWS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| STL | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 1 |
CWSWinning team
Batting
| Batter | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miguel Vargas3B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .247 |
| Munetaka Murakami1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .207 |
| Randal GrichukDH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .286 |
| Tristan PetersLF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .279 |
| Chase Meidroth2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .268 |
| Braden MontgomeryRF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .215 |
| Sam AntonacciLF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .269 |
| Kyle TeelC | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .205 |
| Andrew BenintendiDH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .241 |
| Colson MontgomerySS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .207 |
Pitching
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sean Newcomb | 1.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 29 |
| Luis Castillo | 2.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 61 |
| Hagen Smith | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21 |
| Grant Taylor | 1.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 38 |
| Jordan Hicks | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| Bryan Hudson | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
STLLosing team
Batting
| Batter | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José FermínLF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .240 |
| Iván HerreraDH | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .246 |
| Alec Burleson1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .282 |
| Jordan WalkerPH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .282 |
| Leo BernalC | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .311 |
| Thomas Saggese2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .267 |
| Masyn WinnSS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .236 |
| Nathan ChurchCF | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .251 |
| Joshua BáezRF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 |
| Nolan Gorman3B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .189 |
Pitching
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Leahy | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 38 |
| Cooper Hjerpe | 1.0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 52 |
| Luis Gastelum | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Justin Bruihl | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Ryne Stanek | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| George Soriano | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 20 |
| Riley O'Brien | 1.0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 21 |