ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) After two impressive home runs – Zack Collins’ first big league hit for the White Sox after Texas slugger Nomar Mazara with the longest recorded by MLB’s relatively new system – Chicago won with small ball late.
Eloy Jimenez scored on a sacrifice squeeze bunt by Yolmer Sanchez in the 10th inning as the White Sox beat the Rangers 5-4 on Friday night.
”It was just a good play. If you practice, it shouldn’t be hard. We bunt every day,” Sanchez said. ”That’s part of my game. … I like to bunt in that situation.”
Jimenez, a rookie who had a tiebreaking RBI single earlier in the game, had a one-out single in the 10th off Shawn Kelley (3-2) and went to third on Tim Anderson’s soft single to left. Sanchez then bunted, tagged out by Kelley after the reliever fielded the ball going away from the plate.
Collins, the 10th overall pick by the White Sox in the 2016 draft, got his first big league start and went deep in the second inning. His three-run homer to center was measured at 447 feet by MLB’s StatCast.
Mazara pulled a two-run shot deep into the second deck of seats in right field in the first that MLB’s system said would have gone 505 feet unimpeded. That matched the longest ever recorded by StatCast, which is in only its fifth season of use.
”I’ve hit some balls really hard. That one for some reason felt different,” Mazara said of his 10th homer.
”Where it ended up, that was pretty amazing,” manager Chris Woodward said. ”I’m glad I got to see it in person. It sounded all of 505 feet. It was pretty loud.”
Colorado’s Trevor Story had a 505-foot homer at home last season. StatCast measured that a foot longer than a blast that Giancarlo Stanton hit there against the Rockies when he was still playing for Miami in 2016.
White Sox starter Reynaldo Lopez, who later gave up a solo homer to Rougned Odor, said he made a mistake on the pitch to Mazara.
”It was supposed to be in, and the pitch was around right in the middle,” Lopez said through a translator. ”And it was a very long, long homer.”
Kelvin Herrera (3-3) struck out the only batter he faced. Alex Colome worked the 10th for his 16th save and broke the White Sox record for consecutive save chances converted to start a season.
The White Sox led 3-2 after the homer by Collins, a catcher from the University of Miami who made his first start as the designated hitter. He made his big league debut with a pinch-hit walk in the ninth inning of Chicago’s last game.
”I was in shock when I hit that ball and I saw it gone. Running around the bases kinda seemed like a blur to me,” Collins said. ”I was pumped and I was just in shock. I didn’t know whether it was a dream. Running around the bases, it was crazy.”
THAT CLOSE
White Sox No. 9 batter Ryan Cordell, a rookie center fielder and former Rangers farmhand, had a one-out double in the ninth that hit about 13 feet up on the 14-foot wall in left field. He got stranded at second base.
WHILE ON APPEAL
Rangers 3B Asdrubal Cabrera was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, playing while his four-game MLB suspension is on appeal . The suspension was for throwing equipment on the field that hit an umpire after he got ejected from Thursday’s game.
TRAINER’S ROOM
White Sox: Veteran OF Jon Jay, who sustained a right groin-hip injury during spring training after signing as a free agent, is on injury rehab at Triple-A Charlotte and could be close to his White Sox debut. ”I think we’re discussing it,” manager Rick Renteria said. ”I’m sure it’s coming to a head here pretty soon.”
Rangers: OFs Joey Gallo (left oblique strain) and Hunter Pence (right groin strain), both on the injured list, are the Texas finalists to be starters on the American League All-Star team. Gallo, who is in Arizona, is expected to rejoin the Rangers next week. Pence is eligible to return next Thursday.
UP NEXT
White Sox: Odrisamer Despaigne (0-2) has allowed 10 runs and 16 hits over 10 1/3 innings in his two starts since the right-hander signed as a free agent last month.
Rangers: RHP Lance Lynn (8-4) has quality starts in his last eight games (4-2, 2.92 ERA in that span). He had nine strikeouts without a walk Monday night against Cleveland and went at least six innings for the 10th start in a row.
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