Chicago White Sox win in extras over San Francisco Giants
Aug 12, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (49) pitches the ball against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Of all the batters for the Chicago White Sox, the player who came up with the clutch hit was none other than the one and only Gordon Beckham.
Yes, it was Beckham (who is batting .224 on the year) hitting an RBI base hit off Santiago Casilla (1-2) to left field, scoring Moises Sierra from third base in the 10th inning for the eventual 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants, Tuesday night on the West Coast.
Even with the big hit by Beckham, it was the pitching by Chris Sale that stole the show for the White Sox in what was their 57th victory of the season. For the year, the White Sox are 57-63.
There was nothing the Giants could do to stop Sale, as all of his pitches we mostly on point, and the Giants mostly swung and missed with Sale having his season-high 12 strikeouts.
Sale finished the game with eight strong innings, allowing no runs on four hits and two walks. His season ERA moves down to 2.01.
All of that led to, you guessed it … a no decision because he led the game with a 2-0 lead, and the bullpen of the White Sox allowed the Giants to get back into the game.
Jake Petricka pitched for Sale in the ninth and didn’t do anything but allow the Giants to have three straight base hits with no outs, eventually tying the score at 2-2 and taking a win away from Sale in the process.
Joe Panik came to the plate for the Giants with the bases loaded and no outs and hit into a double play where Beckham saved the game (at the time) for the White Sox by diving for the baseball, flipping it out of his glove to Alexei Ramirez at second base and Ramirez throwing it Abreu at first with just one run scoring.
With the tying run at third base, Petricka built a 1-2 count on Brandon Crawford, but the Giants batter tied the game at 2-2 with a base hit to right field.
The inability of Petricka to get the third out and keep the Giants off the bases led to Zach Putnam entering the game for the White Sox with a runner on first and two outs. He struck out Gregor Blanco to force extra innings.
This was the third blown save of the season for Petricka.
In the 10th, Putnam retired Angel Pagan on a first-pitch fly ball to centerfield, followed by Hunter Pence grounding out to short for the second out.
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Putnam was the winning pitcher, moving to 4-2 on the season. He ended with 1.1 innings on the mound, allowing no runs on one hits and no walks. He struck out one and has a 2.21 ERA on the season.
Buster Posey kept the inning alive for the Giants with a two-out single to the outfield, bringing Pablo Sandoval to the plate. The Giants third baseman flew out to left field, where Alejandro De Aza ended the game with a catch.
The two White Sox runs of the game came off the bat of Adam Dunn in the first inning. Dunn’s home run was against Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong.
On the bases to score one of the two runs off the home run by Dunn (his 18th of the season) was Jose Abreu, who finished 0-for-4.
Dunn now has 46 RBIs on the season, as the White Sox finished the game with five hits. The Giants totaled eight hits on the evening.
Also for the White Sox offense, Conor Gillaspie hit a triple.