Benny BLAST! Benintendi crushes pinch-hit grand slam in 8th to lift Sox

NEW YORK – Andrew Benintendi once played for the Yankees and that came during the second half of the 2022 season. Four years later, as a member of the White Sox, he came back to haunt them in a 5-1 victory on Thursday night.

Benintendi didn’t start the game. But with the score tied at 1 in the eighth inning, the White Sox had the bases loaded with one out when Yankees manager Aaron Boone decided to take left-hander Tim Hill out of the game in favor of Camilo Doval. The change was made because Hill didn’t have any control of his pitches. Jacob Gonzalez and Tristan Peters were hit by pitches to load the bases.

In came Benintendi as a pinch-hitter for Randal Grichuk, another former Yankee. All Benintendi wanted to do was get the ball deep in the outfield to score at least one run.

“I wasn’t trying to do too much. [Doval] gets a lot of ground balls and I was trying to lift something,” Benintendi said.

After he stepped into the batter’s box, Benintendi swung at the first pitch and hit a grand slam to make it a four-run game. It marked his fourth slam of his career. It also was the first pinch-hit slam by a White Sox hitter since Orlando Hudson did the trick on Sept. 29, 2012 against the Rays.

“I was looking for one of his fastballs,” Benintendi said. “[Doval] has that 4-seamer and a sinker. I was sitting more on the speed.”

Right-hander Sean Burke didn’t start the game, either, but he pitched the bulk behind opener Bryan Hudson. Burke struck out eight across 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits. The innings pitched matched his career high, which occurred on April 26 of this year against the Nationals. In that game he pitched the bulk also behind opener Hudson.

“I had a really good game plan coming in,” Burke said. “Me and [catcher Edgar Quero] were on the same page this week. We were pretty diligent about attacking the guys and getting strike one. He called a great game today.”

For manager Will Venable, Burke exceeded expectations.

“[Burke] was outstanding, dominant with the fastball. For him to get through that game, not just give us a chance to win, he minimized the Yankees offense all together,” Venable said.

Burke was glad to beat the Yankees. He grew up in Shrewsbury, Mass., and became a Red Sox fan. The Red Sox are New York’s biggest rival.

“I grew up a Red Sox fan, so this one is for my boys back home in Boston,” he said.

The White Sox have had a tough schedule this month. Since June 5, the White Sox are 6-5 against teams that have records over .500. It clearly shows that Chicago is going to be tough to deal with. The White Sox now go to Detroit and face Tarik Skubal on Friday night.

Remember, Benintendi played on the 2024 White Sox that lost a Major League record 121 games. He sees a difference with this year’s team.

“To face those teams and have some success, that gives us a lot of confidence with this young group,” Benintendi said. “This group has been unbelievable this year. We like to have a lot of fun. Whether we win or lose the night before, we got to show up the next day and compete for that win. We like to have fun off the field, too. There are a lot of good friendships here.”