Peters draws key walk after 18-pitch plate appearance, White Sox down Guardians 7-3

CLEVELAND (AP) — Tristan Peters fouled off 12 pitches in an 18-pitch plate appearance that keyed Chicago's six-run outburst in the sixth inning and the White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 on Monday night to stay atop the AL Central.

Kyle Teel hit a two-run double and Miguel Vargas connected for a two-run homer following Peters' lengthy plate appearance — the longest in MLB this season, and tied for the third longest since 2000.

The White Sox, who lost 102 games and finished last in 2025, won the opener of the showdown series to push their lead over the Guardians to 1 1/2 games. Chicago has led the division since July 4.

Sean Burke (9-7) didn't allow an earned run in five innings and Chicago's bullpen kept the Guardians in check as the White Sox improved to 7-4 against Cleveland to clinch the season series and tiebreaker.

The Guardians altered their rotation so Gavin Williams (13-8) could start the opener, and the right-hander gave them five solid innings. They needed six.

Chicago chased Williams and scored six in the sixth, helped by Peters' scrappiness in the batter's box and an error.

Andrew Benintendi singled and went to second on a wild pitch before Peters stayed alive by fouling off 12 pitches with two strikes and walking. Tim Herrin got Colson Montgomery to ground to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, but his throw to second struck Peters' helmet, allowing Benintendi to score.

Chase Meidroth followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0, and the White Sox got the big hits they've been craving as Teel doubled and Vargas hit his 31st homer.

Prior to Teel's double, the White Sox were 1 for 15 with the bases loaded in the past 15 games.

White Sox RHP Davis Martin (9-7, 4.05 ERA) starts against Foster Griffin (15-5, 3.65), who beat Chicago earlier this season while with Washington.

This story has been updated to correct that Peters had a plate appearance, not an at-bat.

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Cleveland Guardians' Gavin Williams pitches in the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Chicago White Sox's Andrew Benintendi (23) is congratulated by Chase Meidroth, left, after scoring in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Chicago White Sox's Tristan Peters, right, and Cleveland Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey, left, watch a foul ball hit by Peters in the sixth inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Chicago White Sox's Colson Montgomery (12), Randal Grichuk (34) and Chase Meidroth (10) walk back to the dugout after Montgomery and Meidroth scored and Gricjhuk was tagged out at home on a double hit by Kyle Teel in the sixth inning of a baseball game in Cleveland, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump's bid to restrict mail ballots for the midterm elections, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting already underway.

The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they’ve used for years and have accounted for nearly a third of votes cast.

It represented a stark defeat for Trump on an issue he consistently has emphasized as vital to ensuring election integrity even though there is virtually no evidence of fraud with mail ballots.

The Supreme Court majority wrote that the administration's push to implement the restrictions this year is likely to lose in court, though the brief emergency order didn't detail its reasoning. Two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, publicly dissented.

The Trump administration had asked the justices, once again at the center of a roiling political controversy, to clear the way for restrictions before the pivotal November contests for control of Congress.

Alito wrote in his dissent that the Postal Service “has broad authority to regulate the mail” and likely does have the power to enforce Trump's restrictions.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, meanwhile, agreed that the restrictions should not go into effect for the midterms but indicated he might rule in favor of the Trump administration if the issue comes back before the court at a later time.

Election officials have said there was simply no way to carry out a complete overhaul in the weeks before the midterms. Indeed, Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin began sending mail ballots to voters over the past week while the new system was still not active.

The Trump administration plan would require states to adopt a uniform envelope style and submit lists of eligible voters to an online portal. The Postal Service could refuse to deliver ballots to states that didn’t comply.

The administration’s efforts had the potential to be especially disruptive in states that send out ballots entirely by mail. Washington's Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said the decision means work “to carry out a safe, secure, and accurate election" can continue ”without having to upend our election processes to meet unrealistic ballot mail requirements.”

In Arizona, another largely vote-by-mail state, Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said “it is crucial for us to continue rejecting the notion that access and security are mutually exclusive when it comes to running strong elections.”

Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican serving as the state’s chief election officer, said on social media that the Supreme Court’s decision means “Utahns can have confidence that the 2026 election will proceed as normal."

The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but have in the past framed the restrictions as commonsense changes aimed at keeping elections secure.

Democratic state officials and voting rights groups challenged the restrictions in court, arguing that the president has no constitutional authority to set election rules that would “virtually eliminate mail voting on the eve of a major election."

A whistleblower report, meanwhile, said the postal system’s requirements could lead to millions of mail ballots never being sent, because problems with the not-yet-operational portal meant a single bar code error could result in an entire batch of ballots being tossed out.

Some states don't have the infrastructure to quickly pivot back to in-person voting, according to court documents.

The League of Women Voters, a plaintiff in the case, called the proposed restrictions “an extraordinary attempt to interfere with voting” and said it would have thrown elections into chaos. “Voters should never be caught in the middle of a political power warfare,” said CEO Celina Stewart.

Lower courts agreed to block Trump’s plan, including a preliminary injunction issued by a judge nominated by the president.

But the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that federal control of the Postal Service allows them to set rules for mail ballot handling and that compliance was possible.

The federal government won an early procedural decision at the Supreme Court, but the justices pointedly did not decide the legality of the plan.

Trump has long opposed mail voting and falsely blamed it for his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even though he often uses that method to cast his own ballot, including as recently as this year.

A report by the Brookings Institution published in 2025 found that mail voting fraud occurred in only about four cases out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.

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Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Mason, Michigan; Ali Swenson in New York; Gene Johnson in Seattle; and Jacques Billeaud and Wufei Yu in Phoenix contributed to this report.

FILE - Election worker Wendy Wimer looks through vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary election, March 12, 2024, at the Clark County Elections Office in Vancouver, Wash. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)