Randal Grichuk hit a tying home run leading off the bottom of the eighth inning and the Chicago White Sox went on to defeat the visiting Seattle Mariners 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.
The White Sox won two of three games in the series.
Grichuk greeted reliever Eduard Bazardo (2-2) with a home run that just cleared the left-field wall. Drew Romo followed with a double to right and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Sam Antonacci. The Mariners intentionally walked Munetaka Murakami to put runners at the corners and potentially set up an inning-ending double play, but Miguel Vargas thwarted that plan with a fly ball. Left fielder Randy Arozarena’s throw to the plate sailed over catcher Cal Raleigh, allowing Romo to slide home safely with the go-ahead run.
Bryan Hudson (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the victory and Seranthony Dominguez earned his ninth save despite a harrowing ninth.
The Mariners loaded the bases with one out as Connor Joe and J.P. Crawford singled to right and Rob Refsnyder walked. Dominguez got Cole Young to pop out to shortstop Colson Montgomery in shallow center field and Brendan Donovan on a broken-bat dribbler to first base.
Mariners starter Logan Gilbert allowed one hit over six scoreless innings.
The only hit Gilbert gave up was a two-out double by Vargas in the first inning. The ball was hit so hard – 108.4 mph – off the left-field wall that it confused the scoreboard operator, who set off the firework display that normally accompanies home runs at Rate Field.
Gilbert didn’t walk a batter and struck out a season-high nine.
The Mariners, with a revamped batting order, scored in the top of the first inning. After Donovan, activated from the injured list this weekend, flew out to center field, Julio Rodriguez and Josh Naylor – moved up to the Nos. 2-3 slots with the slumping Cal
Raleigh dropped to the cleanup spot, both got on base. Rodriguez doubled to left before advancing to third on a wild pitch and Naylor walked. After Raleigh struck out to extend his hitless streak to 30 at-bats, Arozarena grounded an RBI single up the middle.
Raleigh went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk.
White Sox starter Davis Martin allowed one run on three hits over six innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out nine.
