White Sox rally in 8th to defeat A’s
Sep 10, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox center fielder
Adam Eaton(1) slides back to first base against the Oakland Athletics during the sixth inning at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
What a great way to bounce back from an awful Tuesday night performance by the Chicago White Sox, right?
Tuesday night the White Sox committed five errors, and played one of their worst games of the season in an 11-2 loss, but that wasn’t the case on Wednesday.
Sep 10, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Oakland Athletics designated hitter
Adam Dunn(10) reacts after striking out against the Chicago White Sox during the ninth inning at U.S Cellular Field. The Chicago White Sox defeat the Oakland Athletics 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
The game on Wednesday saw the White Sox use their pitching to their advantage, along with a rally in the bottom of the eighth for a 2-1 win over the A’s, in the third of four games in this series at US Cellular Field.
Even though the White Sox are out of any postseason race, and only have 65 wins on the season, they showed they play clutch baseball and take advantage of the mistakes by their opponent (like they did on Wednesday) and gain a win.
In this game it was Adam Eaton reaching base on a throwing error on what could have possibly been a double play for the Athletics. Instead, Eaton was safe at first and Leury Garcia was safe at second.
Eaton finished the game with a 2-for-4 night.
Both runners then advanced on a wild pitch, and with one out Conor Gillaspie was intentionally walked.
With Oakland setting up for a double play attempt, Avisail Garcia had other plans and hit the ball on a line drive to centerfield to score both Garcia and Eaton, enough runs to give the White Sox the eventual win.
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In the ninth Jake Petricka entered the game and struck out former teammate Adam Dunn, had Josh Reddick pop-up at shortstop and Derrick Norris ground out to end the game.
Petricka now has 12 saves on the season.
The win went to Zach Putnam who improved to 5-3 on the year. He pitched one inning of relief in the eighth, allowing just a single walk.
Starting the game for the White Sox was Chris Bassitt. He pitched six strong innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and two walks. The rookie struck out five, and had a very solid outing in just his second start with the club.
The loss went to Luke Gregerson, who is now 4-4 on the season and has eight blown saves. In the eighth he allowed the two runs (none earned) the White Sox scored. He struck out three batters in one inning of relief.
Jeff Samardzija pitched seven shutout innings for the Athletics. He allows six hits and walked two, all the while striking out six.
One of the six hits allowed by Samardzija was a double off the bat of Jose Abreu, his 33rd double of the season. Abreu is now batting .317 on the season.