Let the celebration begin! (David Banks, USA TODAY Sports)
Who knew that White Sox rallies would be most effective when beginning the inning with two-out and nobody on base? Down to their last strike twice, once against future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, Adam Dunn and Alejandro de Aza played heroes on Wednesday night.
Rivera recorded the first two outs of the ninth inning with ease, but then fifth place hitter Gordon Beckham (yes, you read that correctly) doubled and Adam Dunn, on an 0-2 count, hit a single through the left side of the infield to bring Beckham around with the tying run.
In the 12th inning, Dylan Axelrod came into the game and immediately gave up the go-ahead homer to Robinson Cano. But down one run is apparently when the Sox are most comfortable. Adam Warren, in his second inning of work, recorded the first two outs like Rivera, but also like Rivera, would blow the lead.
Tyler Flowers hit a chopper, which seemingly should have been an easy play for Warren, except that he misjudged it and the ball glanced off his mitt for an infield single. Alexei Ramirez the singled Flowers to third base and de Aza hit a two-run double to the right-center field gap for a White Sox winner.
In fact, the sweep against the Yankees, combined with the Sox’s sweep over the Yanks last year, marked the first time in a century that the White Sox have swept the Yankees in back-to-back series.
While the win is meaningless this season, it was kind of fun to watch and temporarily took Sox fans out of the reality of this horrific season.
Up Next: The White Sox have an off day on Thursday, followed by a double header on Friday against Minnesota.