The large crowd at Rate Field was still buzzing from Sam Antonacci’s two-run home run when Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami stepped into the box with one out in the eighth inning.
Murakami connected on a first-pitch curveball from New York Yankees reliever Paul Blackburn for his 23rd home run of the season, tying the score.
The back-to-back blasts helped the Sox force extra innings. And Edgar Quero delivered in the 12th inning with a walk-off single against Ryan Yarbrough to lift the Sox to a 6-5 victory in front of 31,694.
“I love to be in those situations,” Quero said. “It’s part of my game. I’m that guy. I want to be in that situation all the time.”
It was the eighth walk-off win for the Sox this season. And the second walk-off hit by Quero. He had a walk-off, two-run home run in the 10th inning on May 17 against the Cubs.
“Crazy game,” manager Will Venable said. “It was awesome. Great effort all the way around. Really cool to see (starter) Davis (Martin) after a rough first inning making his adjustment, get back on track and pitch outstanding. Got us through the sixth inning, which I didn’t think was going to happen there after that first inning, and then the bullpen did their thing.
“And on the offensive side, the boys found a way.”
With the win, the Sox (56-51) maintained their 1 1/2 game lead in the American League Central over Cleveland (56-54). The Guardians defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-1.
The Sox had to dig out of a big hole.
The problems began with a one-out double by Ben Rice in the first inning. Martin walked Jasson Domínguez. Paul Goldschmidt followed with an RBI single.
Spencer Jones then hit an 0-1 changeup 380 feet for a three-run home run, extending the Yankees’ lead to 4-0.
Martin settled in after the rocky first, going six innings while throwing a career-high 106 pitches. He allowed four runs on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks.
“Just put my ego to the side and said we need to get as many innings as we can,” Martin said.
Yankees starter Cam Schlittler allowed one run on two hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in 6 1/3 innings.
Schlittler retired the first 11 batters. Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas reached on a broken-bat single to left field with two outs in the fourth inning for the team’s first hit.
Schlittler then retired the next seven Sox batters before surrendering a leadoff walk to Murakami in the seventh inning. Murakami later scored on a double by Andrew Benintendi.
With two on and one out, Braden Montgomery popped out to second base against reliever Fernando Cruz. Tristan Peters then struck out to end the inning.
The big hits arrived in the eighth. Chase Meidroth led off the inning with a double. He scored on the one-out home run by Antonacci, his eighth of the season, as the Sox cut the deficit to 4-3. Murakami then tied the score with his home run.
“It was a one-(run) game after Sam’s great home run, so I just wanted to continue and contribute with a good at-bat,” Murakami said through an interpreter.
After both teams came up empty in the ninth, the game went to extra innings.
The Sox had a runner on third with no outs in the 10th, but failed to score. With the infield in, Tim Hill got the Sox to hit two grounders to shortstop José Caballero. He then struck out Murakami.
The Yankees scored in the 11th on a sacrifice fly to right field by Anthony Volpe. The Sox tied it with two outs in the 11th when catcher Ali Sánchez made a throwing error while attempting to pick off Murakami at third base. The ball went to left field and Murakami scored easily.
“I was surprised they (tried to) pick me off at third,” Murakami said. “I was a little bit off the bag, obviously, but I was hearing (third-base coach Justin Jirschele’s) voice clearly, so I was able to get back in time, so not an issue at all.”
The bullpen had major contributions all night, including 2 1/3 innings from Grant Taylor with one unearned run allowed. Jordan Hicks worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the 12th without allowing a run, striking out Rice and then getting Sánchez to ground out to second.
In the bottom of the 12th, Meidroth bunted the automatic runner Peters to third. Quero then came through with the game-winning hit, a single to center.
“I’ve been (in a) tough situation this year for me,” said Quero, who came into the game batting .181. “Starting the season a little slow, coming up in that situation is pretty good for me. It feels amazing.”
Teammates caught up with Quero in the outfield grass to celebrate another memorable win.
“(The game) was a dogfight out there with the back-and-forth stuff,” Murakami said. “Just to pull this one off, it really means a lot.”
