Zack Wheeler carried a no-hit effort as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the struggling Chicago White Sox 9-5
Zack Wheeler pitched without allowing any hits for 7 1/3 innings, Brandon Marsh hit a home run, and the Philadelphia Phillies kept their winning streak alive by defeating the struggling Chicago White Sox 9-5 on Saturday night.
Wheeler, who had struggled in previous games, didn’t give up a hit until rookie Korey Lee’s single in the eighth inning. Despite his strong performance, Wheeler said he aimed to be more efficient in later innings, especially as he approached his pitch limit.
The White Sox, with the lowest batting average in the league, continued their poor start to the season with a record of 3-17. They have lost eight of their last nine games.
Philadelphia’s win put them five games over .500 in April for the first time since 2019.
Wheeler was in control for most of the game, with only two balls leaving the infield before Lee’s hit. Despite a challenging first at-bat, where he walked Nicky Lopez after a 10-pitch battle, Wheeler managed to keep his pitch count manageable.
Manager Rob Thomson replaced Wheeler with Seranthony Dominguez after Lee’s hit, ending Wheeler’s impressive outing.
The winds of change are blowing in The Windy City. A new report from the Chicago Sun-Times states that the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls, and Chicago White Sox are set to move off their current broadcasting home of NBC Sports Chicago in favor of the Stadium channel, in a move that seems to be a step back in time for the teams as regional sports networks (RSNs) around the United States appear to be struggling.
From the tenor of the report, it sounds as if NBC Sports Chicago may not be in operation for much longer. Its contracts with the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox are set to expire this October, just as the current MLB season is ending and the 2024-25 NBA and NHL seasons are beginning. That’s why the possibility still exists that the channel will agree to a six-month extension with the three teams until the 2025 White Sox season is ready to start next spring.
Once the three teams leave NBC Sports Chicago, they’ll head to the Stadium channel, which is currently available to stream on The Roku Channel, Plex, and other platforms. When the teams join Stadium it will cease to operate as a free streaming/cable channel and will transform itself into an RSN to seek carriage deals with pay-TV distributors like Comcast, Spectrum, and DIRECTV.
Stadium is controlled by Jerry Reisdorf, who is also chairman of the Bulls and the White Sox. He helped launch Stadium with Sinclair Broadcasting Group in 2017, which used the platform to distribute games now found on its Bally Sports-branded channels. Those RSNs were eventually offloaded to their current owner Diamond Sports Group, which meant that Sinclair no longer had any need for Stadium.
