White Sox wait out 3-hour rain delay in 10th inning to beat Cardinals 6-5

ST. LOUIS (AP) Tanner Banks came on after a three-hour rain delay to strike out pinch-hitter Iván Herrera in the bottom of the 10th inning, and the Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 on Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

“I’ve never been part of anything like that before, but I’m happy to have been a part of it.” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “I’m happy to have been on the right end of that one because that would have been a tough one to lose. There was some good performances. It was a good team win.”

Tommy Pham drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the top of the 10th and the White Sox were an out away in the bottom half when crew chief Dan Iassogna stopped play and called out the grounds crew after John Brebbia threw his first pitch to Nolan Gorman.

“I love the elements,” Brebbia said. “You don’t often get to play when it’s pouring rain because they stop the game, so I try and take every advantage of that as possible. It’s just an absolute disaster when it’s coming down like that. So, you never know what’s going to happen. It’s kind of fun.”

After the delay of 3 hours, 3 minutes, Banks came on and threw four pitches to get Herrera for his first save of the season.

“I came into the game not really thinking about, bases loaded, two outs.” Banks said. “When they called strike three, it was a big sigh of relief because, one, we’d been waiting for forever, but also because we’d won, and that’s the goal. Just to see a plan come together and finish."

Nolan Arenado singled to first to lead off the bottom of the 10th, and Alec Burleson reached first base on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Brebbia then struck out Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn, who was batting when the downpour began.

“The at-bats, obviously, needed to be better,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “They were frustrated with it. They obviously wanted to come through there, but they didn't. We had an opportunity to wrap that up, and we missed it.”

Pham singled to left field off Ryan Fernandez (0-1) to drive in automatic runner Rafael Ortega in the top of the 10th.

Michael Kopech (1-3) pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

White Sox reliever Dominic Leone was removed from the game with lower back tightness in the eighth inning after walking Arenado, the only batter he faced.

Korey Lee hit a two-run single to center field off Andrew Kittredge in the sixth inning to the tie the game at 5-all.

Arenado’s second home run of the season put the Cardinals ahead 5-3 after Brendan Donovan snapped an 0-for-11 skid with a two-run double earlier in the fifth inning.

Lance Lynn allowed five runs, three earned, on four hits and three walks in five-plus innings. It was his first appearance against the White Sox since they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 28, 2023.

“It wasn't a good day for me, ” Lynn said. “There's no other way to say it. The team got me five runs and then I turned around, walked the first two guys in the top of the sixth. All in all, I've got to be better from the get-go.”

Erick Fedde allowed five runs on four hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings for the White Sox, who hadn't won since sweeping a three-game series against Tampa Bay April 26-28.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: Placed INF Danny Mendick (lower back tightness) on the 10-day injured list retroactive to May 2 and recalled INF Bryan Ramos from Double-A Birmingham. Ramos made his major league debut as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Cardinals: OF Dylan Carlson (left shoulder AC sprain) returned to St. Louis after going three for 11 with a homer in four games on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis. Carlson will workout in St. Louis with a strong potential of rain putting Memphis’ weekend games in Charlotte in jeopardy.

UP NEXT:

LHP Garrett Crochet (1-4, 5.97 ERA) will start for the White Sox. LHP Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 2.76 ERA) will make his first start of the season in what is shaping up to be a bullpen game for the Cardinals.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb