White Sox 6, Angels 4 (10 innings): Nicky Delmonico drives stake through playoff hopes

Nicky Delmonico might have successfully played through his wrist injury.

After struggling to pull balls in the air since coming off the disabled list, Delmonico rediscovered his power stroke tonight. He found extra bases to right field twice, including a two-run homer in the 10th that both won the game for the White Sox and officially eliminated the Angels from contention, giving the Twins the second wild card spot.

Mike Scioscia had the reliever he wanted on the mound, but Blake Parker might have exhausted his supply of good splitters during his battle with Avisail Garcia, which he lost. Garcia swung over one splitter and fouled off two more over the first nine pitches of the at-bat, working a full count to start the inning. On the 10th pitch, Parker left one up above the knees, and Garcia lined it into the left-field corner for a leadoff double.

Delmonico followed with the same game plan. After the game, he told Jason Benetti and Steve Stone that he was looking for the splitter, and the approach reflects that. He took a first-pitch curve for a strike, then a splitter and fastball out of the zone. Parker threw a splitter in a fastball count, but it hung in the heart of the zone, and Delmonico got enough of it to put it into the Kraft Kave to end the game.

It capped a strong game for Delmonico, who went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. He drove home Jose Abreu from first with a double to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead in the fourth, and he came home on a walk, single and Willy Garcia chopper off the plate. Garrett Richards then yielded a run via #WILDPITCHOFFENSE to make it a 3-0 game.

Reynaldo Lopez lost the lead quickly, and in a disheartening fashion. He retired the first two batters with little issue in the fifth, but he plunked C.J. Cron with a 2-2 pitch, gave up a single to Martin Maldonado, then dangled a changeup that Kole Calhoun mashed out to center for a game-tying shot.

Lopez ended up trailing an inning later after a leadoff walk to Justin Upton came around to score on a pair of singles in the top of the sixth, but the Sox took advantage of more #wildpitchoffense in the bottom of the inning. Willy Garcia reached on an error by Luis Valbuena, took second on a Cam Bedrosian wild pitch, then took third on a wild pitch. Both of those came on sliders, which gave Tim Anderson a pretty good idea of what Bedrosian wanted to avoid throwing with the tying run 90 feet away. He worked a 2-1 count on three straight fastballs, and when Bedrosian threw a fourth, Anderson sent it back through the box to tie the game at 3.

That made it a battle of the bullpens, which the White Sox won. Al Alburquerque threw 1 ²⁄₃ innings, leaving after a one-out walk in the ninth. Gregory Infante took over and battled C.J. Cron to a full count, with a foul ball on the seventh pitch foiling a steal attempt by pinch-running Eric Young Jr. Young took off again on the next pitch, which Cron sent to center. Yoan Moncada deked infield contact well enough to confuse Young long enough for Adam Engel to throw him out at first for the inning-ending 8-3 double play.

Aaron Bummer started the 10th with a groundout and a walk, and Danny Farquhar struck out both batters he faced, including Mike Trout’s fourth strikeout of the night. He picked up the win for doing all he could.

Bullet points:

*After striking out a total of two batters over his last three starts, Lopez struck out the side in the first inning. He ended up fanning seven over six, emptying it out for his last start of a successful season.

*Willy Garcia left the game with a strained hamstring, which he suffered running out a grounder.

Record: 65-93 | Box score