Sam Antonacci pops leadoff homer

Antonacci got his three doubles without the benefit of a hard-hit ball. He’s totaled 23 two-baggers in 123 games since arriving in the majors, and his .367 OBP placed him third among rookies behind TJ Rumfield (.389) and Kevin McGonigle (.373).

Antonacci and Montgomery take a seat with lefty MacKenzie Gore toeing the rubber for Texas in this one. Luisangel Acuña is at shortstop with Tristan Peters in left field. The 23-year-old rookie will continue to cede the occasional start against a southpaw for the final months of the year. It’ll be Miguel Vargas moving up to the leadoff spot in a strange-looking lineup from Chicago manager Will Venable.

He sits against LHP Sean Manaea. Antonacci has started against LHPs here or there — he’s not in a strict platoon — but he’s hitting .225/.326/.263 against them this year so the White Sox are doing your fantasy team a favor.

Meidroth told reporters that he isn’t dealing with a potential hamate issue after hurting his left wrist on a swing last week. He’s out of the lineup for the second straight game with Sam Antonacci drawing another start at the keystone in his absence. It’s possible he’ll require a trip to the injured list if he isn’t showing any improvement later this week.

Once again we see Antonacci sitting with a left-hander on the hill as he appears to be locked into a strong-side platoon role at the moment with the White Sox. Luisangel Acuna will start in his place in left field and will bat ninth against Red Sox’ southpaw Ranger Suarez on Thursday evening at Fenway Park.

Randal Grichuk will start in left field and bat fourth, while Everson Pereira will start in center field and bat sixth. Both Antonacci and Tristan Peters will head to the bench, and both players seem to be falling into strong-side platoons. It makes some sense since Antonacci has hit .200/.288/.231 in 74 plate appearances against lefties this season.

Things looked great for Antonacci and the White Sox early in this one. He singled to start the game, stole second base, and came around a few batters later as part of a three-run first inning. Eventually, they opened up a 5-0 lead before letting up nine unanswered runs from the sixth inning on to let this game slip away. Regardless, Antonacci continues to be productive. That stolen base was his 14th on the season as that mark continues to climb and he was also hit by his 19th pitch, second-most in the league. In all, he has a .281 batting average and .373 on-base percentage as a perfect spark-plug out of the lead-off spot.

Antonacci put the finishing touches on a five-run second inning for the White Sox when he hit a two-run homer off Jays starter Spencer Miles to put the Sox up 5-0. It’s just the seventh homer of the season for the lefty, who has now homered in back-to-back games and three times this month. Antonacci is now slashing .279/.326/.512 on the month.

Antonacci takes a seat with Athletics rookie lefty Gage Jump toeing the rubber for Saturday’s showdown in Chicago. The 23-year-old went 1-for-5 with an RBI and his 13th stolen base of the season during Friday’s series opener. He’s emerged as the White Sox primary table-setter, slashing .288/.380/.409 with 47 runs scored, five homers and 26 RBI across 299 plate appearances over 74 games. It’ll be veteran lefty-masher Randal Grichuk in the leadoff spot to kick off Saturday’s tilt.

He also stole his 12th base of the year. Because they were facing Payton Tolle tonight, the White Sox had Antonacci batting fifth instead of his usual first. All three of Antonacci’s hits came off of lefties — two off Tolle and one off Daniel Coulombe — but that still only makes him 10-for-50 with no extra-base hits and one walk against southpaws this year.