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On Mother's Day, Gordon Beckham hit a walk-off single.
Today on Father's Day, he hit a walk-off homer.
The performance on non-parents' days remains an issue, but let's focus on the moment at hand. Beckham finished off a quintessentially frustrating 2015 White Sox winner by hammering Alex Claudio's first pitch of the 11th inning over the wall in left for his first game-winning homer of his career. Not bad, considering he had one hit in his last 37 at-bats coming into the game.
In the process, he rewarded the White Sox' run prevention unit while sending the Rangers home muttering to themselves this time around.
Beckham ended the top of the 11th by charging a chopper and starting a 5-2-3 double play, allowing Jake Petricka to work around a leadoff double and two intentional walks.
The inning before, the Rangers had a runner on third and one out after Rougned Odor singled, then advanced from first to third on a wild pitch (Zach Putnam was to blame for the wild pitch; Tyler Flowers for rushing a throw on an unwise decision by Odor). Ventura called for an intentional walk of Prince Fielder, and Carlos Sanchez started a clutch 4-6-3 double play on a Mitch Moreland grounder to keep the game tied.
The Sox had plenty of frustrating moments of their own. In the third inning, they set a new standard for not scoring when Conor Gillaspie couldn't get home from third with one out, even though Sanchez blooped a single to left (not Gillaspie's fault, either).
After letting Yovani Gallardo get away with one high breaking ball after another for five inefficient scoreless innings, the Sox finally got on board in the sixth. Jose Abreu singled, moved to second on Melky Cabrera's single two batters later, then came around on an Alexei Ramirez blooper to right field. Cabrera went from first to third on the play, and scored on a Gillaspie sac fly to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.
Jose Quintana must have been uncomfortable with being in position for the win, because he hung two straight curves to Leonys Martin, and Martin hit the second one out to right to tie the game at 2. Quintana was fantastic, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks (one intentional) over seven innings, but two of those hits were solo shots, and that put him back in line for the no-decision.
From that point on, the Rangers and White Sox exchanged squandered opportunities. Ramirez bounced out to shortstop after a two-out Cabrera double in the eighth, and Avisail Garcia popped up a hanging breaking ball after a two-out Sanchez double in the ninth. Garcia is the latest victim of the No. 2 hole in the batting order, as he went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and five stranded.
Bullet points:
*Ventura used the best of his bullpen -- Zach Duke in the eighth, David Robertson in the ninth, Putnam in the 10th and Petricka in the 11th.
*He also used the intentional walk, calling for four of them (they all worked).
*Cabrera set a career high with five hits during a perfect game at the plate, including a double from the right side. Expect him to return to the second spot.
*The Sox are now 11-4 against the AL West.
Record: 30-38 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights