Eaton tries to bunt, then hits walk-off HR for White Sox
CHICAGO
Adam Eaton surprised just about everybody, including himself.
Eaton's walkoff home run in the 11th inning lifted the Chicago White Sox to a 7-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.
Eaton hammered a 1-0 pitch to right field off Toronto reliever Roberto Osuna (1-3) for his sixth homer of the season.
The 5-8, 183-pound leadoff hitter went from trying to bunt on the first pitch to hitting his second career game-ending home run.
''I tried to bunt there and I felt like the next one was going to be a heater. I have to admit, that was the first time I tried to hit a homer, and for some reason I don't know how, I blacked out, but it happened to work out. I was very fortunate it went out,'' Eaton said.
Osuna thought Eaton was going to try to bunt on the second pitch.
''I tried to go in. I thought he was going to bunt. The pitch was right there,'' said Osuna.
Josh Donaldson hit a pair of doubles and drove in two runs for Toronto.
Zach Putnam (3-3) pitched a scoreless 11th and White Sox relievers shut out the Blue Jays for 6 2/3 innings, giving up two hits.
Avisal Garcia had four hits, matching a career high, and the White Sox have won six of their last eight games.
''In the past week and a half we've been playing better baseball,'' said Eaton. ''We've been battling and scoring more runs lately, but at least our pitching has been there.''
Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison ran into trouble in the first inning. He allowed a leadoff walk to Eaton, then Jose Abreu singled to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
Eaton scored on a sacrifice fly by Melky Cabrera. With runners on first and second, Adam LaRoche doubled to extend the lead to 3-0. LaRoche was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple.
In the third inning with the bases loaded and no outs, Jose Reyes hit a two-run single and Donaldson followed with an RBI double off White Sox starter John Danks. Edwin Encarnacion gave the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly.
The White Sox got help in the fourth inning when Toronto center fielder Kevin Pillar lost Abreu's ball in the lights, which ended up being a double. Abreu scored on Garcia's single to tie the game.
Donaldson got the lead back for Toronto with an RBI double off the right-field fence in the fifth inning. Jose Bautista chased Danks with a single up the middle to score Donaldson and give Toronto a 6-4 lead.
Toronto reliever Liam Hendricks gave up a two-out RBI single to Carlos Sanchez in the sixth inning. After Hendricks was pulled, reliever Aaron Loup gave up an infield RBI single to Eaton to tie the game at six.
For the first time since May 9, the White Sox scored more than four runs at home.
Hutchison pitched five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, while striking out six and walking two. Hutchison, who has received the most run support in baseball, had his ERA rise to 5.33. He left the game with a 6-4 lead, failing to get his ninth victory.
''Our offense came back and did a great job like they've been doing. Just need to go deeper in games,'' said Hutchison.
Danks gave up six runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.
TRAINING ROOM
Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right lat, pitched two innings, giving up two runs on three hits in a rehab stint for the Gulf Coast Blue Jays of the rookie league on Tuesday. He's been on the disabled list since June 6 with the shoulder injury. He is 5-4 with a 3.55 ERA.
UP NEXT
The Blue Jays and White Sox conclude their four-game series Thursday. Toronto starts R.A. Dickey (3-9) against Jeff Samardzija (5-4). Dickey is 0-6 on the road with a 6.10 ERA. In his last start against the Blue Jays, Samardzija allowed one unearned run in seven innings.
