CHICAGO – Yoán Moncada scampered home on a 10th-inning wild pitch that knocked down umpire Cory Blaser, sending the Chicago White Sox to a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.
All three runs in the game were scored on wild pitches.
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“First time that happened to me,” Moncada said through an interpreter. “It was a very weird thing.”
Romy González opened the White Sox 10th with a sacrifice against José Cisnero (2-1), moving automatic runner Moncada to third.
After Yasmani Grandal bounced to second and Gavin Sheets was walked intentionally, Jake Burger was hit by a pitch. It was originally ruled a foul ball, and then the call was overturned after a challenge. Tim Anderson was at the plate when Cisnero threw a first-pitch fastball that hit Blaser right in the face mask.
Anderson helped Blaser up as the game ended.
“Never seen that,” White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease said. “Just hope he’s OK. Took 96 (mph) straight to the facemask.”
The umpiring crew declined comment to the AP. Major League Baseball said Blaser is undergoing evaluation.
Tigers catcher Eric Haase said the call was for a slider on the final pitch, but Cisnero heard sinker.
“It looked like he got crossed up or didn’t catch it,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “Umpire goes down. The ball came toward the dugout, and they got a walkoff win. It looked like there was some sort of miscommunication.”
Andrew Benintendi had two hits for the White Sox, who have won three of four. Reynaldo López (1-4) threw a scoreless 10th.
Zach McKinstry tripled and scored for the Tigers.
Benintendi singled, stole second, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on another Michael Lorenzen wild pitch in the fourth. Lorenzen struck out three in the inning.
Another wild pitch brought in the tying run in the sixth. McKinstry led off with a triple to the right-field fence and scored on Cease’s wild pitch.
“You don’t see many of them, certainly not in a low-scoring game when everything matters,” Hinch said about the wild pitches scoring runs. “It happened today. You stick around long enough, you’re going to see a lot of things. It’s definitely a bad way to lose.”
Cease allowed two hits in 5 1/3 innings. He is 10-1 with a 2.07 ERA in 15 career starts against the Tigers. In his previous start against Detroit, the right-hander gave up four runs in four innings Sunday.
Lorenzen took a perfect game into the sixth last weekend in his last start against Chicago before Gonzalez singled with two outs. Lorenzen was unable to repeat the feat Saturday. Anderson singled to lead off the game.
Lorenzen struck out six and walked none in seven innings.
BACK AGAIN
Liam Hendriks pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning in his second appearance of the season after returning from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He motioned that he wanted the ball after his first strikeout of the season and returned to the dugout to loud cheers.
“It was clean,” said Hendriks, who put the ball in his bag. “Deeper counts than I would have liked. It’s all working back.”
Hendriks was charged with two runs in an inning against the Angels in his first appearance Monday. Neither appearance was a save opportunity for the closer.
BALANCING ACT
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said he will “mix and match” with the lineup after infielder Elvis Andrus returned from the injured list Friday. Andrus started at second base Saturday while Gonzalez, who was hitting .306 in his last 12 games, came off the bench.
“Me and him are gonna, I don’t say compete, but share playing time,” Andrus said. “If it’s for the best of the team, that’s what it’s all about. But very happy for all he’s been doing.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: RHP Alex Faedo (right middle finger discomfort) went on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Wednesday. He was expected to start Tuesday in Philadelphia after his start Sunday against Chicago was pushed back. Faedo joins four other starting pitchers on the Tigers IL: RHP Matt Manning (right foot fracture), LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (left index finger pulley rupture), LHP Tarik Skubal (left elbow strain) and RHP Spencer Turnbull (neck discomfort).
UP NEXT
LHP Matthew Boyd (3-4, 5.96 ERA) is set to start Sunday for the Tigers in place of the injured Faedo. RHP Michael Kopech (3-5, 4.52 ERA) takes the mound for Chicago.
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