When Elvis Andrus guided a Kenley Janson cutter softly to right field, the over 30 thousand White Sox fans at Guaranteed Rate Field let out a collective cheer of relief as Zack Remillard slid across home plate. The ones that didn't leave early to beat the traffic in the top of the ninth inning that is.
The White Sox offense hit four home runs, only to blow the lead with two outs in the ninth, keep the game alive with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and eventually win in walk-off fashion.
The RBI single gave the White Sox an MLB-leading seventh walk-off win of the season. It was also Andrus’ first walk-off RBI since June 11, 2021, when he was still playing for the Athletics.
“Unbelievable. Such a relief,” Andrus told reporters after the game. “It’s just kind of getting hot. You play such a long game, you just want to finish it.”
It was a wild game, full of momentum swings that, in many ways, summed up the White Sox season to this point. Inconsistent and never easy.
The White Sox offense came courtesy of four solo home runs off the bats of Yasmani Grandal, Jake Burger, Luis Robert Jr., and Andrew Vaughn. They weren't cheap either. The four blasts traveled a total of 1,601 feet and had an average exit velocity of 104.7 mph.
So it was fitting that it was a bloop single from Elvis Andrus with an exit velocity of 75.5 mph that ended the game. Andrus, and his .207 batting average, would not exactly be people’s first pick to be the hero against Kenly Janson, who is one of the best closers in baseball and had gotten Andrus to ground out to second base less than 24 hours earlier.
“I feel a lot better, a lot more comfortable, because I faced him yesterday, and I kind of knew how he was going to approach me,” Andrus said. “I was trying to stay through the middle, don't try to do too much. With guys like him, you cannot try to do too much. His pitches move so late, so for me, that was my plan and I was very happy that it went through."
But he would not have even been in that situation if not for Kendall Graveman.
With two outs in the ninth inning, it looked like Graveman was going to lock down the save. But in typical White Sox fashion, things unraveled. Jarren Duran kept the inning alive with a single, stole second base, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Justin Turner tied the game with an RBI single, and Graveman issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. Suddenly what once looked like a White Sox victory was in jeopardy of becoming another soul-crushing loss. An all too familiar sight for White Sox fans.
But on this particular Sunday, luck was on the White Sox side. Graveman escaped the bases-loaded jam by striking out Adam Duvall. As he walked towards the dugout, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. While the blown save stung, keeping the score tied was critical in keeping any hope of winning that game alive.
Janson, who had shut down the White Sox the previous night, was tasked with keeping the score tied and sending the game into extra innings. He quickly recorded two outs before White Sox manager Pedro Grifol opted to use Gavin Sheets to pinch-hit for Clint Frazier.
The move was puzzling since Frazier is much faster and a better defender. If the game went to extra innings, he would be the one starting on second base. But Sheets ripped a 103 mph ground ball off the first base line that Triston Casas had to knock down to prevent from going into the outfield.
Grifol then made his next chess move by having Zach Remillard then replaced Sheets to pinch run. Remillard stole second, giving Andrus the opportunity to be the hero.
“As soon as Remy stole that base at second, I thought, ‘OK, it’s a little bit easier. Let’s try and get a hit and finish this game,’” Andrus said. “Just very grateful that I was able to get through.”
“We battled the whole game, ups and downs,” Andrew Vaugh said. “Had some plays go our way. Elvis with the big hit. It was awesome.”
The power surge came after the White Sox were limited to just one run on Friday. Multiple home runs in the same game are rare for the White Sox offense. Home runs of the solo variety are not, as 15 of the White Sox last 16 home runs have been solo.
But regardless, the White Sox first four runs coming via the long ball was encouraging for Grifol who has been stressing putting the ball in the air.
“In this league, ground balls pretty much are outs, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid,” Grifol said during his post-game presser. “I’ve said it over and over again– we have capabilities of slugging on this club. So we’ll do whatever it takes, whether it’s the screen or whatever we can come up with to elevate the baseball, which is what we’ve got to do.”
Another encouraging sight was seeing Lance Lynn dealing just one start removed from his 16 K performance a week ago. Lynn stuck out seven in 5.2 third innings, allowing three runs on six hits. It may not look like the most impressive outing on the box score, but it was enough to keep his team in the game.
“They are doing their job every day,” Lynn said when asked about the offense. They are coming in and preparing. Hopefully, it turns the corner for them. Pitching staff has to try to put up zeros and that’s all we can ask ourselves to do and not try to do too much. Next thing you know, hopefully the offense clicks too and we are right where we want to be."
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