{"id":162753,"date":"2025-08-21T03:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T03:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/162753\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T03:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T03:16:11","slug":"martin-perez-takes-next-step-in-return-from-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/162753\/","title":{"rendered":"Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez takes next step in return from IL"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 The Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves combined for 43 runs in the first two games of their series at Truist Park.<\/p>\n

Wednesday was all about pitching.<\/p>\n

Sox starter Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez allowed one run, which was unearned, on three hits in 5 1\/3 innings in a 1-0 loss to the Braves in front of 30,054.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in my rhythm again and attacking from the first pitch,\u201d P\u00e9rez said. \u201cI think moving the ball very well, the strike zone in, was good for me today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are doing a great job, man. We lost the game but it\u2019s part of the game. You\u2019ve got to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starter Hurston Waldrep scattered four hits in seven scoreless innings for the Braves, who took two of three in the series. Waldrep struck out seven and walked one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaldrep, really good (splitter), (we) knew that coming in,\u201d Sox manager Will Venable said. \u201cIt was extremely effective tonight. And then we had to honor that and he was able to use all his stuff effectively on top of that. So credit to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series had a little bit of everything.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox pitcher Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez catches a popup in the third inning against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo\/Colin Hubbard)<\/p>\n

The Sox won Monday\u2019s series opener 13-9<\/a>. They lost Tuesday\u2019s game 11-10<\/a> after leading 10-4 in the sixth inning.<\/p>\n

Wednesday was a much different game. Both teams finished with just four hits. All four hits for the Sox \u2014 by Mike Tauchman, Brooks Baldwin, Luis Robert Jr. and Curtis Mead \u2014 were singles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat game in general was really the opposite of what we saw the first two games,\u201d Venable said.<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez struck out five and did not surrender a walk in the 74-pitch outing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMart\u00edn was outstanding, (had) command of all of his stuff,\u201d Venable said. \u201cI thought he really had that front-door sinker working to the righties. Did an outstanding job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday marked P\u00e9rez\u2019s first start since returning from the 60-day injured list on Aug. 13. He made a relief appearance that afternoon, allowing one run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 3 1\/3 innings against the Detroit Tigers<\/a> at Rate Field.<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez last started on April 18 at Boston<\/a>, when he exited after three innings with left elbow inflammation. The IL stint followed.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been sharp since returning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to enjoy it,\u201d P\u00e9rez said. \u201cWas close to being home early this year, so now I\u2019m back and just trying to enjoy more again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He allowed two singles and a double on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just try to stay focused every time,\u201d P\u00e9rez said. \u201cWhen I\u2019ve got the baseball in my hands, I just want to go out there and compete and do my best for the team. I\u2019m able to repeat my pitches and locate them, it means it\u2019s going to be a good day for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was one of those days and I feel great. Hopefully we can continue to do the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venable added:\u00a0\u201cTo me, he\u2019s kind of like a 3-point shooter, that he just needs to find his touch and he\u2019s locked in. I think it took him about three batters in his return (against the Tigers) to find it and it has just continued on. Making good pitches, commanding his stuff and throwing strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery records an error on a ground ball in the fourth inning against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo\/Colin Hubbard)<\/p>\n

Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna connected for the double with one out in the fourth. He advanced to third when Michael Harris II grounded out to shortstop Colson Montgomery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Montgomery couldn\u2019t cleanly field a grounder by Ozzie Albies, and Ozuna scored to give the Braves a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

That was the game\u2019s only run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told the guys last night, \u2018Hey, just save a couple runs for tomorrow, please,’\u201d P\u00e9rez said with a chuckle. \u201cBut, I mean, it is what it is, man. I think we played a good series and we\u2019ve just got to keep doing what we\u2019ve been doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got five more weeks left and I think we have to finish strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox went 1-5 on the trip against the Kansas City Royals and Braves. But Venable saw some encouraging signs at Truist Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, that game aside, we came into this series not playing very good baseball and I thought we got back to being where we were at coming out of the break,\u201d Venable said. \u201cPlaying really good baseball all the way around.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisappointing not to scratch out another one here, but really proud of the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 20, 2025 at 9:57 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 The Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves combined for 43 runs in the first two games…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":162754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[1280,960,1274,29987,5386,1818,27049,1822,13250],"class_list":{"0":"post-162753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-atlanta-braves","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-colson-montgomery","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-illinois","14":"tag-martin-perez","15":"tag-mlb-baseball","16":"tag-will-venable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115064588519688949","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}