'It's gonna happen': Yerm¨ªn's walk-off lifts Sox
Ryan Herrera
@ryan_a_herreraThere likely isn¡¯t anyone on the White Sox who could¡¯ve used a walk-off base hit as much as Yermín Mercedes in Friday night¡¯s 9-8 win over the Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The 28-year-old rookie has had quite the fall from his explosive arrival onto the scene in April. He finished the opening month of the season with five home runs, 16 RBIs and a slash of .415/.455/.659, a line so good that it earned him American League Rookie of the Month honors. Yet after an 0-for-3 game on Thursday that capped off an 0-for-22 stretch, his average had sunk all the way to a still very respectable .299.
¡°Yerm starts off the season at a blistering pace, going to set the MLB record for average in a season,¡± said White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel, who threw six innings of one-run ball Friday. ¡°[And he] kind of cooled off.¡±
Three more hitless at-bats to start the game had Mercedes on a streak of 25 straight at-bats without a hit. But White Sox manager Tony La Russa noticed the at-bats Mercedes had been putting together, and especially that third at-bat, which looked and sounded great as the ball left the bat at 97 mph but couldn¡¯t quite make it to the warning track.
In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied 8-8, Mercedes got another chance. Yo¨¢n?Moncada got plunked to start the inning, and Jos¨¦ Abreu followed it up on a single to right that sent Moncada to third with nobody out.
Up to the plate came Mercedes. He took the first pitch -- a low, 98.4 mph sinker from Detroit¡¯s Jos¨¦?Cisnero -- for a ball. He then got a hold of the next pitch.
Though this one also didn¡¯t make it to the warning track, it didn¡¯t really need to. Mercedes deposited the ball into left field, and Tigers left fielder Akil Baddoo didn¡¯t even have a shot at throwing Moncada out at home as the White Sox sealed their 35th win of the year.
¡°He had some great at-bats,¡± La Russa said. ¡°He just took it into that last one. He's got the heart of a lion, and the situation did not scare him.¡±
¡°Little slump, 0-for-25. ¡ but we keep working,¡± Mercedes said. ¡°Keep working every day. Don't put your head down. Do the best we can do. It doesn't matter if you go 0-for-25, 0-for-26. It's gonna happen.¡±
It had been a trying time for Mercedes, who -- beyond the 0-for-25 stretch -- had recorded just two hits in his last 37 at-bats. A walk-off hit like that combined with the support he¡¯s gotten from his teammates all along, Mercedes says, may be exactly what he needs to get his own season back on track.
¡°I have my guys right there,¡± Mercedes said. ¡°Every time, every day. They push me, 'Hey. Continue, bro. Continue. It doesn't matter. Keep working hard. Continue to do Yermin.' All the time, I have my boys right there. After today, we continue working hard, and let's see what's gonna happen.¡±
Mercedes¡¯ ¡°guys¡± are also the reason he had the opportunity he did in the ninth.
With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers finally gave the White Sox an opportunity when Spencer Turnbull was removed due to right forearm tightness.
Chicago took advantage of an error on a two-on, no-out bunt attempt by Leury Garc¨ªa, a fielding error after a grounder to second by Adam Eaton and a throwing error on an Abreu grounder to score five runs in the inning.
When Keuchel was removed with a 7-2 lead in the top of the seventh, White Sox relievers allowed six runs in the inning to blow what to that point seemed to be a sure win. But then Yasmani Grandal came to the plate in the bottom of the inning, hit his second solo shot of the night and set up the chance for Mercedes¡¯ heroics two innings later.
The win was also a milestone for La Russa, as he moved into a tie for second place on the all-time manager wins list with his 2,763rd victory, matching fellow Hall of Famer John McGraw. Only Connie Mack (3,731) has more.
It was the type of game that contending teams need to be able to win. The type of game where a club implodes late, yet somehow has the wherewithal to pull a win out. All of that happened to the White Sox on Friday night, but being the contending team that it is, Chicago did its job.