What a game. With me working out of town, I didn’t get to watch it, but I wore out my refresh button as I kept going back to the box score on Yahoo. After Monday’s loss, this game was nothing short of huge.
The Indians jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second, but the White Sox answered with two in the third on a Joe Crede two run homer. Travis Hafner gave the Indians the lead again in the fourth, but the White Sox answered and tied it up with a Juan Uribe RBI single in the bottom half of the inning.
Then things got really interesting. The Indians scored two in the seventh to make it 5-3 and things were looking grim. The White Sox answered in the bottom half of the inning as they rattled off three runs. A.J. Pierzynski drove in a run with a double. Aaron Rowand hit an innocent enough sacrafice fly to follow that to tie the game, but Jose Hernendez cut off the throw to the plate and threw the ball away trying to get the runner at third. Another run scored, and the White Sox had a one run lead.
Then in the top of the ninth, things looked grim again. Dustin Hermanson gave up a walk and double before Ron Belliard drove in the tying run on a ground out. With two outs and a runner at third, Hermanson struck out Ben Broussard to end the threat, and the game went into extra innings.
Joe Crede might have had another disappointing season for the Sox (he’s my favorite player), but what a huge game. In the bottom of the tenth, Crede homered for the second time and the White Sox walked away with the win. Our magic number is now nine and a win today would go a long way towards locking up the division.
September 21st, 2005 at 1:38 pm
Just a friendly reminder/correction…Ozzie had Bobby Jenks in there for the 9th. Hermie pitched a scoreless 10th, but did not pitch in the 9th. Jenks blew the save thanks in large part to Rowand misplaying a liner straight at him in center, which was what put men on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. (He broke in on the swing and couldn’t get back in time to recover)