Chicago White Sox starter Davis Martin counts Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech among the many helpful pitchers early in his career.
“Those are the guys that I want to be for some of our younger guys now,” Martin said. “Just great minds, great friends. Just really felt like they welcomed me to the big leagues and made me feel like a part of the clubhouse.
“So a lot of the things I try to do as a professional stems from those two guys.”
Martin and Cease were the starting pitchers as the Sox began the final home series of the season Friday against the San Diego Padres.
Martin allowed three runs over six innings and earned the win as the Sox snapped a six-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory in front of 30,505 at Rate Field.
“The goal going into the game was just attacking the zone,” Martin said. “I think looking at the last few outings, where we had some counts where we were falling behind on guys. This lineup is aggressive. They’re a really good lineup if you fall behind, so just emphasis on getting ahead of guys.
“A lot of good stuff (on Friday). Offense did really well. Bullpen did really well. (Kyle) Teel caught a phenomenal game, and just all-around good White Sox win.”
Martin surrendered six hits, struck out four and walked one while throwing 77 pitches.
“Davis was great,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “He was really aggressive in the zone. He’s been aggressive the whole year, another example tonight. They did a really good job of matching his aggression.
“Early it turned into some quick outs, and later he had to work through some trouble. But a really nice job continuing to attack the zone.”
Padres starter Dylan Cease delivers against the White Sox in the first inning on Sept. 19, 2025, at Rate Field. (Daniel Bartel/Getty Images)
Cease allowed four runs on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks in six innings in his first outing against his former team.
“A part of it was cool coming back to a place I made a lot of starts at and obviously I was here for a while,” Cease told reporters covering the Padres. “I don’t love that we didn’t get the win. But it was definitely an interesting experience.”
Cease went 43-35 with a 3.83 ERA and 792 strikeouts over 123 starts during five seasons (2019-23) for the Sox after being acquired from the Chicago Cubs on July 13, 2017. The Sox traded Cease to the Padres in March 2024.
No one in Friday’s Sox starting lineup played a regular-season game with Cease while he was with the Sox.
Miguel Vargas started the scoring for the Sox with a two-run home run in the first.
“He’s a really good pitcher,” Vargas said. “I was just trying to put the ball in play and put some runners in scoring position.”
The Padres scored one run in the third and another in the fourth to tie the score. Martin was particularly proud of limiting the Padres to one run in the fourth. They had the one run in and runners on the corners with one out when Martin struck out Jake Cronenworth and got Freddy Fermin to ground out to third.
White Sox starter Davis Martin delivers against the Padres in the first inning Sept. 19, 2025, at Rate Field. (Daniel Bartel/Getty Images)
“It’s taking the ego out of pitching and realizing where we’re at and realizing the goal is to win the game, not pad your own stats,” Martin said of the mindset to escape that jam. “It’s trying to get guys out as fast as you can. If you give up one run, that’s great instead of three.
“Basically, the goal is to win the game. So however we can minimize damage the best way we can. That was the thought process with everybody on base there, how can we get out of this with one run or less and don’t let it kind of spiral out of control.”
The Sox (58-96) regained the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth. Cease hit two batters in the inning and both ended up scoring. Curtis Mead drove in a run with a single to put the Sox ahead. Will Robertson followed with an RBI single, making it 4-2.
“We came out aggressive,” Venable said of the team’s approach against Cease. “He was aggressive too. He’s obviously got great stuff. Chase (Meidroth) did a really nice job setting the tone with a (seven-pitch) quality at-bat (leading off the game).
“Guys followed behind him, and we stuck with the program the whole night.”
Holding on to a 4-3 lead after six innings, the Sox turned to their bullpen. Jordan Leasure (1 2/3 innings), Brandon Eisert (one-third of an inning) and Grant Taylor (one inning) combined to limit the Padres to one hit while striking out four.
“Between (Taylor), Leasure and Eisert, that was crisp,” Martin said. “I don’t think you can ask for a better seven, eight, nine out of those three guys. It’s something I think is really positive and something that those guys have been doing behind the scenes.
“Just kind of want to shed some light on that because they’ve been really good down the stretch. It was a lot of fun to watch.”