Leury Garcia's homer lifts White Sox over Red Sox

[September 13, 2021] Leury Garcia hit a walk-off solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago White Sox over the visiting Boston Red Sox 2-1 Sunday afternoon in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Chicago White Sox left fielder Leury Garcia (28) gets doused by teammates after he hit a walk off home run during the tenth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

Garcia's fifth homer of the season, against Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock (8-4), came after Eloy Jimenez and Yasmani Grandal had struck out back-to-back to open the home ninth.

In the sixth, Luis Robert singled to left field to score Cesar Hernandez from second base with one out for Chicago's first run. The center fielder went 4-for-5 with a three-run double in the White Sox's 9-8 extra-innings loss to Boston on Saturday.

Kike Hernandez doubled to lead off the ninth for Boston on Sunday and later scored on Alex Verdugo's tying sacrifice fly. Former Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel (4-4) earned the win for the White Sox despite giving up the tying run.

Chicago (82-61) has won two of its last three games after dropping four of its previous six. The White Sox moved 12 games ahead of Cleveland atop the American League Central.

Jose Iglesias (2-for-3) had the only multi-hit day for Boston (81-64), who totaled four hits. Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta gave up one unearned run on three hits while striking out five over 5 1/3 innings in his return from the COVID-19 injured list.

Boston dropped into a tie with Toronto for the top AL wild-card spot following the Blues Jays' 22-7 rout of Baltimore.

Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez missed his third straight game with back spasms.

White Sox starter Lance Lynn tossed five innings of scoreless, two-hit ball with nine strikeouts in his return from the injured list. The All-Star right-hander had been on the IL since Aug. 31 due to right-knee inflammation.

Before the game, Red Sox reliever Phillips Valdez became the 12th member of the team to test positive for the virus since Aug. 27.

--Field Level Media

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.