ST. LOUIS – A lively debate took place among White Sox media as to what to dub Randal Grichuk after his two-out, two-strike, game-winning home run in the ninth inning of a 6-5 victory over the Cardinals Saturday at Busch Stadium sailed over the glove of right fielder Victor Scott II.
There was “Grichey Mantle,” “Ken Grichey Jr.,” and even the old classic of “The Grich Who Saved Christmas.”
Let’s allow the man who just might have turned the South Siders regular season back toward the postseason to have the final say, with much less tomfoolery.
“It was something that we really needed,” Grichuk said.
Short. To the point. Direct. The man should be a writer.
To be honest, the White Sox (76-72) can’t afford to give away Grichuk.
“Obviously, what he's done offensively has been impactful,” said manager Will Venable. “But the way that he handles the clubhouse, he's one of the veteran leaders in there that makes sure that the guys are on-target with what we're doing before the game, that the vibe is in a good place."
“He’s a battler. Never count him out,” said catcher Kyle Teel. “One of the older guys on the team. Leader of this team. He’s always getting jobs done, playing the game the right way. He’s always the first one here. Doesn’t surprise me.”
Grichuk’s homer erased a 5-4 deficit brought about by Leo Bernal’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the eighth off Grant Taylor. Up until that connection, Hagen Smith and Taylor had combined to strike out five and walk one over three scoreless innings.
Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien (3-8) took over in the ninth and after jumping ahead at 0-2 on Teel, eventually issued the seventh White Sox walk of the night. They also were hit by a pitch three times.
Pinch-runner Brenton Doyle swiped second on a Cardinals pitchout, sandwiched in between strikeouts from Miguel Vargas and Munetaka Murakami, leaving things up to Grichuk. O’Brien went with two sliders and two sweepers, getting Grichuk to swing twice at pitches out of the zone, before he introduced a sinker on pitch five.
Even Grichuk didn’t think his Statcast-projected 358-foot drive was going for home run No. 13.
“Off the bat, no. I was hoping it would slice and hit the wall,” Grichuk said. “Victor is a great outfielder and if it was in play, he would probably catch it. At that point, just hoping and praying. I was telling the guys before we came here it’s a pitcher friendly ballpark. Don’t try to do too much.”
Not only did Grichuk’s homer end a season-high-tying four-game losing streak, with nine losses in 12 games for the White Sox. But it also helped the White Sox gain ground on Cleveland (75-74) in the American League Central and Houston (75-74) for the AL’s No. 2 seed and bye in the Wild Card playoff round, with both sitting 1 1/2 games behind.
Toronto (74-75), the only other true Wild Card contender, won on Saturday and sits 2 1/2 behind the White Sox.
“That was a good one, obviously very exciting,” Venable said. “Really regardless of the result, it was a well-played game. I know we did have a couple errors. But when we look at the pitching, what we did at the plate, I thought it was awesome.
“Really in the spirit of passing the baton, grinding your at-bats and passing it on to the next guy, it was great. Then obviously special stuff there in the ninth inning."
The Cardinals took a 3-0 lead in the second against opener Sean Newcomb, who struck out four, and bulk hurler Luis Castillo, who gave up three runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings. But the White Sox took advantage of Cooper Hjerpe’s extreme wildness in the fourth and fifth to tie the game, as Hjerpe walked four and hit two in one-plus innings.
Hope still looked a little bit lost a few innings later, with the White Sox one strike away from a somewhat wasted day in the playoff push. And then the free agent signed on May 4 did his job yet again.
“We’ve got a lot of traffic lately,” Grichuk said. “Haven’t been able to get that big hit to push us over the top and I know we all feel it. Luckily tonight I was able to come through.”
“We have more work to do tomorrow. That’s the biggest thing,” Teel said. “We come out with a chip on our shoulder every day. And we want to be the best. Momentum is a powerful thing. So happy for us and so happy for him.”