Paul DeJong homers as the White Sox beat the Rockies 11-3 for their 3rd straight win

CHICAGO (AP) — Paul DeJong homered and drove in three runs, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 11-3 on Saturday for their third straight win.

Luis Robert Jr., Korey Lee and Lenyn Sosa also homered for Chicago in its first double-digit scoring game of the season. The White Sox finished with 12 hits in a matchup of baseball's worst teams.

Chicago went ahead to stay with three runs in the sixth inning. Robert tied it at 3 with a 470-foot solo shot to center against Cal Quantrill. Andrew Vaughn was hit by a pitch with one out, and DeJong followed with a drive to left for his 15th homer.

The White Sox (24-61) got rolling against Quantrill after falling behind 3-0, starting with Sosa's two-run shot in the fifth.

“You know, 11 unanswered runs,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “We put some balls in the seats and that's what it's all about.”

Robert, an All-Star last season with 38 homers, is beginning to round into form after being sidelined by a right hip flexor strain. He went deep for the second time in three games, and he also made a nifty sliding catch in center on Ryan McMahon's liner in the second.

“Right now I'm feeling pretty good,” Robert said through a translator. “We haven't been consistently, but hopefully this is a good time for us and we can be more consistent from now on.”

Quantrill (6-6) was charged with five runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings on a warm, breezy day.

“Just ran out of juice a little bit at the end and made a couple of bad pitches and unfortunately got burnt on them," Quantrill said. “I thought I threw the ball pretty well for the first couple times through the lineup.”

Nolan Jones and Brendan Rodgers homered for Colorado in its fifth consecutive loss. Rodgers had two of the Rockies’ four hits and scored twice.

Jones’ two-run shot in the fifth lifted Colorado to a 3-0 lead. But Chicago got two back in the bottom half when Nicky Lopez doubled and scored on Sosa’s third homer of the season.

The White Sox (24-61) broke it open with a season-high six runs in the eighth. DeJong singled in Corey Julks, and Lee had the big blow — a three-run drive to left-center against Riley Pint for his eighth homer.

Tanner Banks (2-2), the first of three Chicago relievers, got four outs for the win.

White Sox rookie Jonathan Cannon permitted three runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings in his seventh career start.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rockies: OF-DH Charlie Blackmon was reinstated from the 10-day injured list, and OF Sean Bouchard was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque. Blackmon was sidelined by a strained right hamstring. The four-time All-Star went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his return to the lineup.

White Sox: OF Gavin Sheets, who left Thursday’s game with a bruised left heel, was back in the lineup as the DH. Grifol said Sheets could be ready to return to the outfield by Tuesday in Cleveland.

UP NEXT

The Rockies send LHP Kyle Freeland (0-3, 9.55 ERA) to the mound on Sunday against White Sox LHP Garrett Crochet (6-6, 3.05 ERA) in the series finale.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Colorado Rockies' Charlie Blackmon watches his popup during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Colorado Rockies' Charlie Blackmon watches his popup during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox catcher Korey Lee and relief pitcher Justin Anderson celebrate the team's 11-3 win over the Colorado Rockies following a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's Luis Robert Jr., left, celebrates his home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Cal Quantrill, as catcher Jacob Stallings waits for play to resume in the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago White Sox's Paul DeJong watches his RBI single during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The Chicago White Sox took shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the first pick of the amateur draft this past weekend, and Tampa Bay selected shortstop Grady Emerson one spot later.

Yes, both those teams are currently in first place.

Pro drafts — even those with lotteries — generally start with some of the weakest teams from the previous season. But because baseball doesn't conduct its draft until the middle of the ensuing season, sometimes the teams picking at the top have already made impressive strides. The White Sox lost 102 games last year and Tampa Bay dropped 85. Now they're in contention — and adding possible help for the future via the draft.

Here are a few teams that actually reached 90 wins the same year they had the top pick:

2008 RAYS (97-65)

This was Tampa Bay's fourth No. 1 pick in a 10-year span, and the Rays haven't had one since. Starting in that 2008 season, which ended with a World Series appearance, Tampa Bay became a lot more successful. The Rays didn't take full advantage of that final No. 1 pick, selecting infielder Tim Beckham when Eric Hosmer and Buster Posey went later in the top five.

2024 GUARDIANS (92-69)

Cleveland won the draft lottery, then proceeded to win the AL Central. The Guardians drafted Travis Bazzana, who made his big league debut earlier this season.

1984 METS (90-72)

The Mets began their mid-1980s rise in '84, finishing 6 1/2 games out of first place in the NL East with Dwight Gooden winning Rookie of the Year honors. New York would peak two years later with a World Series title, but this draft pick — outfielder Shawn Abner — never played for them.

1977 WHITE SOX (90-72)

Chicago's rise in 1977 — from 64 wins to 90 — was short lived. But the White Sox drafted a keeper that year in Hall of Famer Harold Baines. He'd go on to play more than two decades in the major leagues and was part of division champions in Chicago in 1983 and toward the end of his career in 2000.

Cholowsky, of UCLA, became the school's first No. 1 overall draft pick since Gerrit Cole in 2011. But there was another UCLA star, drafted in the first round, who has been worth even more wins above replacement than Cole. Who was it?

The Mets led 9-4 and, according to Baseball Savant, had a 94.2% win probability after Juan Soto's three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth against Kansas City on Tuesday night. The lead didn't even last until New York's next at-bat.

The Royals scored five runs in the fifth, then added seven more in the seventh on their way to a 16-12 victory.

Then on Sunday, the Mets blew a two-run lead in the ninth and lost to Boston 3-2 in 10 innings. Meanwhile, the rival Yankees swept three straight in Washington, coming from behind in the eighth inning or later in each game.

Toronto's Dylan Cease had a no-hit bid broken up in the ninth inning of a 10-0 win over San Francisco on Wednesday. He finished with 11 strikeouts and one hit allowed in eight-plus innings.

Honorable mention: Kansas City's Tyler Tolbert went 5 for 6 with a homer in that big comeback victory over the Mets. He tied a major league record with hits in 12 straight plate appearances.

Chase Utley, drafted with the 15th overall pick in 2000, was worth 64.6 WAR according to Baseball Reference.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Chicago White Sox's Roch Cholowsky, first round of the 2026 MLB draft (No. 1 overall), throws a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Athletics and the White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, July 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)