Thanks to an amazingly fortuitous break–a dropped third strike that wasn’t dropped, or at least didn’t appear to be–the White Sox are all even in the American League Championship Series.
Joe Crede, whose specialty is late-game heroics, doubled home pinch-runner Pablo Ozuna with the winning run in the ninth inning, and Mark Buehrle pitched a sturdy five-hitter as the Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 2-1 in ALCS Game 2 Wednesday night before an incredulous sellout crowd at U.S. Cellular Field.
Ozuna was running for A.J. Pierzynski, who lumbered down to first when home-plate umpire Doug Eddings made a rather puzzling ruling that Angels catcher Josh Paul hadn’t made a clean catch of the pitch on which Pierzynski swung and missed for an apparent inning-ending strikeout.
Ozuna, running for Pierzynski, then stole second and scored when Crede lined a pitch from Kelvim Escobar into the left-field corner to send the best-of-seven series off to Anaheim tied 1-1.
It was Crede whose 11th-inning homer on Sept. 20 gave the Sox a 7-6 victory over Cleveland when the Indians were closing fast in the AL Central Division race. But this hit might top that one for sheer drama . . . and overall weirdness, given the sequence that preceded it.
“When the ball bounces your way, you have a chance,” Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.
The 41,013 fans on hand had grown increasingly pensive as Game 2 wore on, sensing a loss might mean no more baseball on the South Side this year.
Meanwhile, the Sox again complicated matters for themselves by wandering the bases like confused tourists. But in the end they got the break that mattered, and they capitalized.
