Eloy Jiménez stood close to house plate and waited. And waited.
He watched to see if his towering fly ball to left within the fourth inning Wednesday would keep honest.
It did, leading to a game-tying, two-run house run for the Chicago White Sox in opposition to the Minnesota Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“I thought it was foul the first time,” Jiménez stated. “And then good job.”
More than good for the Sox, who’re hoping to obtain an offensive enhance with Jiménez’s return from the injured listing. He got here by means of once more within the seventh with an RBI single to tie the sport as soon as extra.
“It was one of the days you feel like, ‘Yeah, I’m back,’” Jiménez stated.
Clutch hitting was on show all through the day for the Sox, who rallied 4 instances to drive further innings. And within the tenth, Leury García drove in Adam Engel with a single to left in opposition to reliever Jovani Moran to provide the Sox an exhilarating 9-8 victory in entrance of 18,393.
“Every day is going to be different — this is baseball,” Jiménez stated. “Sometimes you’ll rating a whole lot of runs and generally you don’t. But this can be a crew we are able to do what we did (Wednesday).
“We come out, compete and do our best and see what happens. Everybody knows that we had that team that can score runs. And to see that (Wednesday), it was good.”
The Sox prevented being swept by taking the finale of a vital three-game sequence. They are in third place within the American League Central, 5½ video games behind the division-leading Twins.
“(Playing) it at home, three-game series, you don’t want to get swept,” Sox supervisor Tony La Russa stated. “We lost a couple heartbreakers in that series over there (April 22-24 in Minnesota). So it’s good to get on the right side for a lot of reasons. Mostly because it was inspirational to watch the guys refuse to quit.”
Jiménez, who went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, hit one in all three house runs for the Sox.
Luis Robert’s two-run homer within the fifth tied the sport at 5. Andrew Vaughn’s two-run homer within the eighth tied it at 8.
“We swung it well,” Vaughn stated. “It went our way a couple times, and it was awesome.”
Jiménez has waited a very long time to contribute once more. The left fielder had been on the IL since April 24 with a torn proper hamstring tendon suffered yesterday whereas making an attempt to beat a throw to first base in opposition to the Twins at Target Field.
“When we got the results, I said, ‘It’s bad, but the good thing is I’m going to be back,’” Jiménez stated. “So I tried to do my best and now I’m here. Back to the game.”
Wednesday’s sport was Jiménez’s twelfth of the season. He entered the day slashing .222/.256/.333 with one house run and 7 RBIs.
He slashed .246/.317/.351 with two homers and 7 RBIs in 17 video games throughout a rehab project with Triple-A Charlotte. There was a brief pause through the project when he skilled what the crew referred to as “normal leg soreness.”
He displayed stable timing on the plate Wednesday.
“That smile lights everything up. It was great to get him back,” La Russa stated. “But when he’s productive like that, that’s exactly what we need, that thump in the middle to produce runs. That’s what inspires us.”
Jiménez additionally made a pleasant play defensively, operating to foul territory to trace down Luis Arraez’s fly ball with two outs and two on within the seventh.
“I feel finally I can run,” he stated.
But this sport was largely about offense. The slugfest, that includes a mixed six house runs, went to further innings tied at 8.
José Ruiz induced a double play within the prime of the tenth to get out of the inning with out permitting a run.
Engel started the underside of the tenth on second and moved to 3rd on a handed ball as Josh Harrison walked. The Twins introduced within the infield, and García hit a grounder previous diving third baseman Gio Urshela, establishing a Sox celebration close to first base after Engel scored.
It was the second time in lower than every week that García got here by means of late. He drove within the go-ahead run with a single within the ninth inning of Friday’s 1-0 victory in opposition to the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.
“The game was on the line there and it was very good to be able to contribute,” García stated by means of an interpreter.
After dropping the primary two within the sequence, the Sox didn’t shrink back from the which means of Wednesday’s victory.
“It was huge,” stated catcher Seby Zavala, who had two hits and scored as soon as. “Anytime we can get a game from anyone who’s ahead of us in the standings, it’s big.”
Yoán Moncada day after day with bruised proper foot
Third baseman Yoán Moncada exited earlier than the seventh with a bruised proper foot. X-rays have been adverse, the Sox stated, and he’s day after day.
Moncada fouled a pitch off his foot within the fourth.
Before the sport, the Sox positioned infielder Jake Burger (bone bruise in his proper hand) on the 10-day IL and right-hander Vince Velasquez (blister on his proper index finger) on the 15-day IL. Pitcher Jimmy Lambert was recalled from Charlotte.
Infielder Danny Mendick, who tore his proper ACL final month, was transferred to the 60-day IL.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com