White Sox walk off in the 11th

CHICAGO – With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 11th inning Jose Abreu slapped a sharp grounder under the glove of the diving Adrian Beltre to push the White Sox past the Rangers in walk off fashion. The White Sox won their second game in as many days versus the Rangers, and moved to 12-6 on the season. The White Sox currently stand with the most wins in the American League, and are tied with the Royals for first place in the AL Central with the Royals still having a game to play this evening.

Scoring Summary

Second Inning (Top): Rangers outfielder Ian Desmond kicked off the scoring with a solo home run to center field off of White Sox starter Carlos Rodon.

Second Inning (Bottom): Melky Cabrera matched Ian Desmond with a solo home run to center field of his own in the bottom of the second inning to even the score at one a piece after two innings.

Seventh Inning (Top): In the top of the seventh inning Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus tripled to center field, scoring Ian Desmond, and giving the Rangers the 2-1 lead.

Eighth Inning (Bottom): In the bottom of the eighth inning White Sox third-baseman Todd Frazier hit a deep solo home run to left field, his fifth of the season, tying the game 2-2.

After Melky Cabrera, singled and Avisail Garcia was hit by a pitch, catcher Dioner Navarro gave the White Sox the lead with an RBI single to center-field. The White Sox led 3-2 heading into the ninth inning.

Ninth Inning (Top): Elvis Andrus collected his second RBI of the game when he drove Ian Desmond in from third on a sacrifice fly, tying the game at three.

Eleventh Inning (Bottom): With the bases loaded, White Sox first-baseman Jose Abreu singled to left field, scoring Austin Jackson to win the game 4-3.

Escape Act

In the bottom of the 11th inning the White Sox pulled the ultimate “escape act” by walking off on the strength of the Abreu RBI single for their AL leading 12th victory of the season.

Defensive Gem

Brett Lawrie made diving stab on a grounder up the middle, capped off by a behind the back toss to shortstop Jimmy Rollins for the force out at second base in the top of the third inning. In the 11th inning Lawrie made a diving snag on a scorched one hopper off of the bat of Rangers first-baseman Mitch Moreland.

Managerial Move

In the bottom of the eighth inning the White Sox had Avisail Garcia at third base with no outs, and manager Robin Ventura decided to apply a safety squeeze bunt play, Austin Jackson‘s bunt was fielded by the Rangers Mitch Moreland who then threw Garcia out at the plate for the first out. With one out, and Dioner Navarro now at second base, Adam Eaton singled to center field. Third base coach Joe McEwing sent Navarro home from second, where he was easily thrown out by Rangers outfielder Delino DeShields to end the inning. Had the White Sox gotten at least one of the two runs that were cut down at home plate, we might not have seen the ballgame go past nine innings.

Game Ball

Melky Cabrera was 3-4 with a home run, a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored on the afternoon. Cabrera raised his average to .344 on the season, tops for White Sox hitters and good enough for our game ball today.

Notables:

Melky Cabrera: 3-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI

Todd Frazier: 1-4, 1 HR (Game tying HR in the bottom of the 8th)

On Deck

Sunday 1:10 PM Chicago White Sox (12-6) vs Texas Rangers (10-8) @ U.S. Cellular Field

Probables: Mat Latos (3-0, 0.49 ERA) vs Derrick Holland (2-0, 2.70 ERA)

Broadcast Info: TV: CSN / Radio: WLS 890AM