Chicago White Sox’s Sam Antonacci stands his ground on benches clearing Pirates play

As the Chicago White Sox took on the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, things got heated to end the seventh inning. Infielder/outfielder Sam Antonacci doesn’t think tensions should’ve risen in the first place.

Antonacci was trying to break up an inning-ending double play. To do so, he slid late and made contact with Pirates second baseman Brandon Lowe with his elbow. Lowe didn’t take too kindly to the utility man’s move, sending some choice words Antonacci’s way.

Things got heated between the Pirates and White Sox after Sam Antonacci caught Brandon Lowe with his elbow while sliding into second.

The two exchanged words before benches and bullpens cleared. pic.twitter.com/hIpgeuDNxZ

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 10, 2026

From there, both sides blew up with the benches clearing. No punches were thrown and eventually everyone settled down. Still, it was a moment that won’t be forgotten in what was otherwise a 4-2 loss for the White Sox.

There was no malicious intent from Antonacci on the play. To him, he was just trying to put his team in a better place to win.

Sam Antonacci backs benches clearing play

With the bases loaded, breaking up a double play would score a run for Chicago. There’s nothing in the rulebook that would bar his decision. Antonacci was trying to make a smart baseball play, via James Fegan of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Went into the base pretty hard, trying to make a harder throw for him to have to make,” Antonacci said. “Completely legal play if you go look at the rule book. You can slide as late as you want as long as you keep contact with the bag. That’s exactly what happened. Nowadays in this game, a lot of people are used to letting up on that play. Here, we’re trying to get a run anyway we can. It’s a close ball game, these are playoff games and all I’m trying to do is scratch a run there.”

Sam Antonacci stood by his slide during postgame, to say the least pic.twitter.com/6kneX1sJfQ

— James Fegan (@JRFegan) September 10, 2026

From a personal perspective, Antonacci didn’t appreciate Lowe walking away after using those choice words.

“When you have a problem and you walk away like that…I’m happy enough to have a conversation, but you can’t walk away. He’s a grown man,” the infielder/outfielder said.

Overall, Antonacci and the White Sox will now look to move on. It doesn’t seem like the utility man is going to change his style of play, not with Chicago in the playoff hunt. But for Antonacci, the worst part of the entire ordeal is that it came in a loss.

“They won the game, they get the last laugh,” he concluded.

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