The White Sox cannot help but remain the weirdest team in baseball. Even when they’re not really trying.
Friday night provided the latest example as American League central rival Minnesota Twins came to town looking to halt Chicago’s two-game win streak.
Let’s jump ahead to the ninth inning, where the Sox had two runners on in a tie game and Andrew Vaughn stepping up to the plate against the shaky control of Jorge Lopez. You can guess where this is headed. Lopez hit Vaughn high and in on the first pitch of the at-bat and both teams immediately began jawing.
Benches cleared in Chicago! pic.twitter.com/b6Hb6X3sts
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) September 3, 2022
That loaded the bases for Jose Abreu, which seemed like a good time to swap Lopez out for, uh, anyone else. The Twins did not do this. And the break Lopez had while players returned to their benches did not fix his control issues. Immediately, Lopez threw in on Abreu and the veteran first baseman appeared to take it off the hand for a hit-by-pitch walk-off win.
The Sox sure thought so, too. Players ran out on the field to mob Abreu while fireworks shot off overhead. There was just a slight problem—in the midst of all the chaos, the Twins successfully challenged the ruling on the field and kept the game from ending.
Walkoff HBP overturned, one pitch after the benches cleared for Lopez hitting another batter to load them pic.twitter.com/crzutBpcIZ
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) September 3, 2022
So after all the celebrating, Abreu had to grab his bat and head back into the box with one strike, bases loaded and one out.
This time he made sure to deliver for real. Cue the fireworks and lights and everything else (again).
And now Abreu gets the walkoff pic.twitter.com/oGqKGmX1F7
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) September 3, 2022
The 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 walk-off. pic.twitter.com/EcriN0kQnJ
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 3, 2022
As bad as that ride was for Twins fans, it was arguably even worse for Twins bettors. According to Action Network, 82 percent of all bets and 91 percent of the money wagered backed Minnesota (-135). They had to watch those bets miss twice in a matter of pitches.
The White Sox, however, used the win to get to 66-66 on the year—the 23rd time this season they’ve been exactly .500. So it’s really debatable which side is feeling more pain overall in 2022.
