CHICAGO \u2013 There was a brief moment at the end of a\u00a06-5 walk-off victory\u00a0for the White Sox over the Guardians on Monday night at Rate Field where it wasn\u2019t a certainty that Chicago had actually won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam Antonacci\u00a0delivered a two-run single with two outs off Cade Smith, arguably one of the best closers in the game, bringing home Braden Montgomery and Tristan Peters. But the play at the plate on Peters was close thanks to center fielder Daniel Schneemann\u2019s throw \u2013 close enough for the Guardians to challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the call was upheld, most of the 23,151 in attendance went crazy. As for the White Sox players?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They began circling Antonacci near the home dugout and finished surrounding him while euphorically running into left-center field. It unofficially had to be one of the longest White Sox celebrations, distance-wise, on record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey covered a lot of ground,\u201d White Sox manager Will Venable said with a smile on his face. \u201cGreat for them and those guys are obviously very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I saw the coolers. Trying to dodge that,\u201d Antonacci said. \u201cYeah, they were fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Antonacci\u2019s first-pitch connection became the sixth walk-off hit for the White Sox this season. \u201cWalk off\u201d over the previous three 100-plus-loss seasons usually was what the White Sox did as they piled up defeats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three rookies have delivered game-winners, with Antonacci joining Peters and Montgomery,\u00a0who hit the walk-off homer off Raisel Iglesias in his Major League debut. The last season the White Sox had three rookies with a walk-off hit came in their division-winning run of \u201821, when Nick Madrigal, Yerm\u00edn Mercedes and Gavin Sheets did the honors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This rally began with Montgomery\u2019s one-out walk and Peters\u2019 check-swing double rolling perfectly along the third-base line. Of course it rolled perfectly \u2013 the White Sox are home, where they have a 25-12 record overall and a 21-4 mark over their last 25.\u201cThe game is never over until the last out is recorded,\u201d Peters said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we believe in, and we are going to fight every day, every inning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust jubilation,\u201d said Montgomery of the comeback feeling. \u201cThat was really fun to be a part of, a really fun game. Obviously a roller coaster of emotions. That\u2019s baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all honesty, the White Sox looked in position to claim a much more comfortable victory in this initial battle of the American League Central\u2019s top two teams. They built up a 3-0 lead behind eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings and a season-high 101 pitches from Anthony Kay, only to have Grant Taylor allow three runs in the seventh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A broken-bat two-out single from Antonacci scored the first go-ahead run in the seventh, only to have Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez blow his second straight save and fifth overall. Both hurlers walked the leadoff hitter in their respective part of the ninth inning, leading to very candid postgame comments from Dom\u00ednguez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t walk the first guy. I have to be better than that,\u201d Dom\u00ednguez said. \u201cHow can I tell you? It\u2019s a tough moment for me right now. I couldn\u2019t get a save yesterday. I couldn\u2019t get a save today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFortunately we won today. That\u2019s a great comeback for the guys, and they did a great job. My goal is to get better and try to help the team win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dom\u00ednguez was part of the Antonacci celebration, saying it felt as if the rookie \u201ctook off something from my shoulders.\u201d The victory moved the\u00a0White Sox (40-37, .519)\u00a0percentage points ahead of the Guardians (41-38, .518) in a virtual tie for the division\u2019s top spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After being swept at Detroit this past weekend, the White Sox still have yet to lose more than three straight. Although their on-field gratification was delayed momentarily, they made up for lost time once the run and victory were confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s going in slow motion. I wouldn’t want it to speed up,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cStanding there on the field, surrounded by all those people, everyone that loves the Sox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom the players and staff to everyone filling up the stadium, it was special. Being able to put together an inning like that, against an arm like that in its own right was already great. Waiting for that final verdict was a really cool moment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Really cool for the White Sox? Yes, for sure. Special? Well, it goes without saying. But also a moment to process if and when October baseball arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe said in there, that’s kind of what a playoff game is going to feel like,\u201d Antonacci said. \u201cJust looking forward to keep putting good days ahead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAny time you get to experience that and prepare for that, you feel that much more confident the next time it happens,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cIt was just a fun day at the ballpark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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CHICAGO \u2013 There was a brief moment at the end of a\u00a06-5 walk-off victory\u00a0for the White Sox over the Guardians on Monday night at Rate Field where it wasn\u2019t a certainty that Chicago had actually won. Sam Antonacci\u00a0delivered a two-run single with two outs off Cade Smith, arguably one of the best closers in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418092,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418091\/revisions\/418092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}