CHICAGO -- After six near-flawless starts to begin the 2026 season, Los Angeles Angels ace Jose Soriano figured to be in the spotlight Tuesday night. But Chicago White Sox catcher Drew Romo stole the show.
Romo, a switch-hitter, clubbed his first two big league homers in back-to-back plate appearances, one from each side of the plate, helping the White Sox to a 5-2 win that handed Soriano (5-1) his first loss.
Romo became the first player to homer from both sides of the plate for his first two MLB homers in the same game since San Diego's Yasmani Grandal in 2012. According to the White Sox, he's just the seventh player to do it and just the third, along with Grandal and Kansas City's U.L. Washington (1979), to do it in consecutive at-bats.
Suffice it to say, Romo was excited after the remarkable night.
"One of the best days of my life," Romo said. "We won the game, which is most important. So appreciative, everything it's taken to get here. Incredible ride, incredible journey."
Romo, 24, spent his first five professional seasons in the Colorado Rockies organization before being waived last winter, an offseason in which he bounced from the Rockies to the Orioles to the Mets before being claimed by the White Sox in January. After turning some heads in spring training, Romo began the season in the minors and was promoted from Triple-A Charlotte on April 25.
For now, Romo appears to have found a home.
"He'd been swinging well in Triple-A, and he's a total professional," White Sox manager Will Venable said. "[We] really trusted him immediately in spring training, being able to handle the pitching staff."
Romo said that he homered from both sides of the plate in a minor league game and before that had not done it since youth baseball, 10 years before. His two-run fourth-inning blast off Soriano put Chicago up 3-1 and was his first in 58 big league at-bats.
Meanwhile, Chicago ran up Soriano's pitch count early and forced him out of the game by the sixth. Soriano entered the game with a 0.24 ERA, having allowed a single run all season, but gave up three to the White Sox, raising his ERA to 0.84.
"He's a great pitcher," Romo said. "It's not a fluke that he's successful."
Soriano was replaced by lefty Brent Suter to begin the sixth, forcing Romo to the right side of the plate. Remembering his feat in the minors, Romo brashly made a prediction.
"I hit that first home run and I was on top of the world," Romo said. "Before the second home run, I saw a lefty on the mound, and I went up to [pitcher Sean} Burke, and I was like, 'I'm gonna do it from both sides.' And then I frickin' did it!"
The White Sox entered the game with an MLB-low .443 OPS from its catchers and were the only team in the majors without a homer from a backstop.
Now they have two, and Romo has a night he will never forget. He has the souvenirs to prove it.
"I got both balls," Romo said, beaming. "Yeah, they're right behind me."