White Sox Survive 14-Inning Disaster

It’s certainly better to be in the winning clubhouse than the losing one after a 14-inning, 5-and-a-half-hour marathon, but the White Sox didn’t have much to be pleased with after blowing two leads before Juan Pierre‘s walk-off single Tuesday night (Wednesday morning).

Gavin Floyd was staked to a 5-2 lead, Will Ohman walked the first two batters he faced to force in the tying run, Sergio Santos blew his fourth save of the season on defensive miscues by Alex Rios and Gordon Beckham and the White Sox stranded runners in scoring position in each inning from the eight through the 13th before Pierre finally came through with a clutch hit.

There were some heartbreaking moments, such as Rios’ leadoff triple in the 11th – the Sox failed to drive him in. Brent Lillibridge‘s baseline blunder cost them one more shot at ending it there.

The team went 9 for 25 with runners in scoring position and they had 12 more hits than Cleveland did.

But all that matters in the end is the win.

The Sox remained 3.5 back of the division leading Tigers and Cleveland fell to 3 back after Justin Verlander did what he does, mowing down Minnesota to give Detroit an easy 7-1 win.

The Sox bullpen is ravaged after the debacle, but so is Cleveland’s.

Mark Buehrle takes the mound Wednesday, and the Sox face Fausto Carmona for the third time this year. They’ve mauled him to the tune of 18 runs in 8 innings over his first two starts, so I hesitate to say it, but it could be a great weekend for the White Sox and a devastating one for the Tribe.

The White Sox took advantage of some sub-par outfield work by the Indians, tallying five triples – but only two scored.

Pierre also added his second home run of the season, 16th of his 12-year career.

The White Sox are 2-0 when Pierre goes deep.