The White Sox are on another hot streak, as they have won five games in a row and six out of their last seven. More importantly, this has come against division rivals, as they handled the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers.
The latest victory was a scrappy win by the White Sox, as they trailed most of the game. The game was in striking distance the whole time, as the pitching staff kept the team in the game before the offense woke up in the last third of the game.
This was in part because of Sean Burke’s solid start. Burke went 5 1/3rd innings, giving up three hits, one run, and two walks while striking out six batters. Burke found himself deep in many counts, but he was able to limit the damage and keep runners off the bases. However, he had some disgusting strikeouts.
Sean Burke's 5th and 6th Ks thru 4. pic.twitter.com/twibUq2LJU
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 31, 2026
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Burke has now put together a strong season, as there are only three outings in which he’s given up more than three runs. That is pretty good, as it gives the White Sox a chance to win the game.
In Burke’s last start, he was lights out against the Minnesota Twins. In 7 innings, Burke gave up just three hits, two runs, and two walks, while striking out eight. Outside of one tough inning, he was unhittable. This is great to see out of Burke, as he had two rough starts in the middle of the month, but outside of that, he has been very good in May and all season.
This season for Burke has been one to be proud of, as after a great start to his major league career at the end of 2024 Burke had a bit of a rough 2025, as he was sent down to AAA to work on some things. Since then, he’s been significantly better.
Burke has one of the nastiest arsenals on the team, as he has a strikeout highlight reel in almost every start. He’s come a long way from being sent down, as he has a very respectable 3.72 ERA over 65 innings so far. This is a big improvement from his 4.22 ERA last season. He has also considerably improved his WHIP and his batting average against from last season to this season.
However, the biggest improvement has been cutting down on the walks. In 2025, Burke walked 4.22 batters per nine innings. This year he’s sitting at 2.48. In fact, Burke ranks 26th among qualified pitchers in the majors in walks per nine innings. That is quite the turnaround.
While Burke does still need to improve on cutting down the long at-bats and getting ahead of hitters, he has come a long way in less than a year. Once he is able to do that, he will be considered as a top of the rotation arm. In some of his starts he has had trouble making it past the 4th inning, but once he can consistently throw 5+ innings a game, he will help win even more games.
Regardless, Burke has been pitching extremely well this year and over his last few outings. He has cemented himself in the rotation for the White Sox as they head towards contention.
