Andrew Benintendi thought he had the distance.
The Chicago White Sox designated hitter was concerned whether his high flyball to right field leading off the ninth would hook foul.
“I think I hit it off the end enough to where it took a lot of the spin off,” Benintendi said. “It didn’t veer to the right as hard. Glad it didn’t.”
The ball hit off the foul pole for a walk-off home run to give the Sox a 7-6 victory against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday in front of 21,478 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Interim manager Grady Sizemore described the game as “roller coaster.”
And that indeed was the case. The Sox squandered two three-run leads, including one in the ninth, before Benintendi’s home run helped snap a franchise-record 16-game home losing streak.
“Just no easy wins for us,” Sizemore said. “That was a hard fought one, a little bit of everything. Guys kept fighting and staying in there and adding on.
“(Benintendi) with the big hit again for us. He’s been clutch. It was a fun one.”
The dramatic victory was the team’s first win at home since defeating the New York Yankees 12-2 on Aug. 12.
At 34-115, the Sox need to go 9-4 in their final 13 games to avoid tying the 1962 New York Mets (40-120) for the most losses in modern-day history.
The Sox went to the ninth leading 6-3. But a walk, single and another walk loaded the bases with no outs.
Shea Langeliers hit a sharp grounder to third that bounced away from Lenyn Sosa. Two runs scored on the fielding error, cutting the Sox lead to 6-5.
Gus Varland entered for Justin Anderson and surrendered a single to left field. The tying run scored on Zack Gelof’s hit, but Zach DeLoach threw out Langeliers at the plate. Catcher Chuckie Robinson jumped high to come up with the ball and then applied the tag for the out.
“First and foremost, I was just trying to make sure I could catch the ball first,” Robinson said. “So I gave myself a little room, scooted back a little bit, and I jumped up, and it put me in a good position to tag him.”
After a video review upheld the play, the A’s had runners on first and second with one out. Varland got a groundout and popout to keep the score tied.
“It was a great job there by Chuckie,” Sizemore said. “Unbelievable play to adjust, get the ball and still get the tag on. That was a rough inning. It was looking like it could have got away from us.
“If we don’t make that play, I don’t know what happens.”
Sizemore thought once the Sox got the first out on the DeLoach-Robinson play, the Sox were in a “good spot to at least get out of the inning.”
“You are trying to get the pitch you need, get out of the inning and think about how we can get a run on the board,” Sizemore said.
Benintendi supplied the answer with his 17th home run of the season on a 1-2 slider from left-hander Hogan Harris.
“I was taking the first pitch and it went 1-0,” Benintendi said. “At that point I was like, all right, let me see a strike. After that, just get something to drive, not necessarily hit a home run or anything like that. But try to work a good at-bat and I guess it ended up being perfect.”
The game perfectly illustrated just what it takes for the Sox to come away with a victory.
For a portion of the night, it looked as if Chris Flexen would earn his first win since May 8.
The right-hander allowed six hits in five scoreless innings. He struck out eight and walked two and left with the Sox ahead 3-0 thanks to a two-run single by Nicky Lopez in the second and a leadoff homer by Gavin Sheets in the third.
But then came the sixth, when a bases-loaded walk and two-run single against reliever Chad Kuhl knotted the score.
The Sox rebounded with two in the seventh on an RBI single by Benintendi and a sacrifice fly by Sheets. Lopez drove in his third run with his third hit in the eighth, making it 6-3.
The A’s battled back for their three in the ninth. But in a year in which so much has gone wrong, Benintendi’s home run gave the Sox a rare reason to celebrate.
“I think every win is much-needed,” Benintendi said. “Especially in our situation — what, we’d lost 16 home games in a row? So it felt nice with the good crowd tonight.”
