Elvis Andrus had a go-ahead home run against his former team and then notched a game-tying RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, but he won't be remembered for either when fans look back on Wednesday nights.
Instead, Andrus will be remembered for his role in what may go down as one of the worst overturned calls in MLB history.
Andrus came charging home from second base on Zach Remillard's single to left field. The throw beat Andrus and so did the tag of Jonah Heim despite the 34-year-olds best efforts to slide around it. The White Sox challenged the play while everyone in the stadium waited with bated breath. The verdict was that Heim violated the home-plate collision rule and because of it, Andrus was ruled safe.
Instead of doing a full breakdown of the rule and how the White Sox caught a massive break, but instead, I'll let Rangers manager Bruce Bochy sum it up for me.
"For that call to be made, I'm dumbfounded," Bochy told reporters after being ejected from the game. "It's one of the worst calls I've ever seen, and it was done by replay. I just don't get it. I don't care how many times they'll try to explain it. You can't really do that in that situation. It's a shame. It's embarrassing, really.
"There was never any contact with the catcher. It was a sweep tag. I don't get it. I really don't. Again, I'm shocked."
It was the type of victory that could turn a season around.
The White Sox erased a 6-4 deficit in the eighth inning and outscored the high Rangers offense 7-6. Dylan Cease outdueled a Cy Young candidate in Nathan Eovaldi. Eloy Jimenez hit the White Sox's first home run with a runner on base in a long time, and despite the bullpen blowing the lead, luck was on the White Sox side for once.
"I feel games like this are what you need as a team, to kind of spark the energy, Andrus said on Wednesday night. "Sometimes, when you're not winning it goes away. Hopefully, we can let this game tonight help us moving forward and get back on a winning streak."
So what did the White Sox do after their wild come-from-behind win? They laid an egg in the series finale. The 6-3 loss dropped the White Sox back to 12 games under .500, 5.5 games from the AL Central lead, and cost them a series victory over the first-place Rangers.
On a night when Elvis Andrus played his 2,000th career game, he was an afterthought just a few hours after he had been the topic of discussion the previous night's game.
Michael Kopech shouldered most of the blame after throwing a season-low four innings and 86 pitches. His final line was four innings, three runs, three walks and five strikeouts. Kopech was pulled due to load management but was frustrated after the game.
"I know what this team needs, and I know I've not been giving that. To not be getting more than five innings per start, especially in my last few, it's embarrassing, to say the least."
However, it was the three runs that Jimmy Lambert allowed in the fifth inning that sealed the White Sox fate. To add insult to injury Jonah Heim, the man who was called for catchers interference the night before, was the one who connected on the three-run homer in the fifth. As he rounded first base, he made the earmuffs signal, which is usually reserved for managers who want to use the replay challenge.
The White Sox have been looking for that spark to ignite a winning streak for two years now. But every time they pull off an inspired victory or steal a game they have no business winning, they suffer a crushing loss that takes the wind out of their sails within the next couple of games.
There is a reason they have yet to go on a sustained stretch of playing winning baseball. It's the same reason they struggled to do so last year and the second half of 2021. It's also why you should be worried about their ability to climb out of a 5.5 game hole in the division because doing so would require a winning streak, which simply isn't in this team's DNA at the moment.
The White Sox will now turn their attention to Boston on Friday night. In search of another potential spark to kickstart a mid season turnaround.
