June 18, 2005: A.J. Pierzynski’s ‘second-chance homer’ lifts White Sox to victory on Turn Back the Clock Night

Almost midway through their season, the 2005 Chicago White Sox promoted “Turn Back the Clock Night” to honor the 1959 Go-Go White Sox. That team had won the American League pennant but had then lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. The Go-Go Sox roster had included six future Hall of Famers: Luis Aparicio, Larry Doby, Nellie Fox, Early Wynn, manager Al López, and owner Bill Veeck. Current White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillén told reporters, “I know they called them the Go-Go Sox and they were a better team than we are, because they won and we haven’t.”1 Yet on June 18, 2005, Guillén’s squad showed that they could also play like champions; they rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning for four runs, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 before a near-capacity crowd at US Cellular Field.

Eleven members of the ’59 Go-Go Sox attended the pregame festivities: infielders Ron Jackson and J.C. Martin; outfielders Joe Hicks, Jim Landis, Jim McAnany, and Jim Rivera; and pitchers Rudy Árias, Barry Latman, Billy Pierce, Claude Raymond, and Bob Shaw.2 Shaw threw out the ceremonial first pitch to current pitcher Mark Buehrle.

The 2005 White Sox had been in first place since Opening Day.3 Winning 43 of their first 65 games, they entered a three-game series with the Dodgers (33-32) holding a 5½-game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the American League’s Central Division. In the series opener, Buehrle had recorded his eighth victory and first shutout of the season as the White Sox blanked the Dodgers, 6-0. Buehrle also extended his scoreless-innings streak to 18⅓,4 prompting Guillén to tell reporters, “This kid is the heart of the White Sox. Every time he pitches, my bullpen will be fresh for the next day.”5

Chicago started Freddy García. The Venezuelan-born right-hander had been traded to Chicago the previous season.6 He had won his last three decisions and had pitched into the sixth inning in every one of his 13 starts to this point of the season.

Mexican native Elmer Dessens started for the Dodgers. The 34-year-old righty had been traded to Los Angeles the previous season and then signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in the offseason. He had begun his career in 1996 as a reliever, been a starter from 2001 to 2003 with the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks, but reverted back to a primarily relief role with the Dodgers. Dessens had just returned from a rehab assignment at Triple-A Las Vegas, with the mission of halting the Dodgers’ four-game losing streak.

García did not have his best stuff as the game began. He walked Antonio Pérez on four pitches to start the game. After Jayson Werth popped out, García uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Pérez to take second. After J.D. Drew flied out, Jeff Kent launched his 14th home run of the season, well beyond the left-field wall. García then walked the bases loaded before retiring Mike Edwards. García had walked more batters in the first inning than he had in any start in the season. After the game, he said, “I don’t know what was going on. Maybe I was a little lazy. I threw the ball all over the place.”7 He walked another batter in the second but kept the Dodgers from scoring. Meanwhile Dessens retired the first six Chicago batters, throwing just 21 pitches in the first two frames.

García started throwing strikes in the top of third and Los Angeles went quietly. García’s batterymate, catcher A.J. Pierzynski, said that his pitcher “got a little angry [after the second inning]. When he gets angry, he gets good. Maybe we should go punch him before the first pitch.”8

In the bottom of the third, Pierzynski reached on an error by second baseman Kent. Joe Crede singled, putting runners at the corners. Juan Uribe then grounded a ball to shortstop Oscar Robles, whose only play was to first, and Pierzynski scored.

García still had a bit of wildness, giving up two singles, a wild pitch and a walk (loading the bases with just one out) in the fourth, but he retired Pérez and Werth to end the Dodgers threat. Los Angeles did not get another baserunner until the seventh.

Dessens struck out Frank Thomas to end the sixth, and his day was done. He had pitched well enough to win, allowing just two hits, a walk, and one unearned run in his quality start. Duaner Sánchez came on to pitch the seventh and eighth, and the right-hander put up a dominating performance. Meanwhile, the Dodgers added their third run in the top of the eighth. Kent led off with a double to left, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on García’s third wild pitch of the game.

The clock was supposed to turn back to 1959, the last time the White Sox played in the World Series. Instead, according to the Chicago Tribune, “the White Sox almost dialed all the way back to the ‘Hitless Wonders’ days of 1906.”9 Until the final frame, Chicago had been held to only three hits and one unearned run.

Then came the excitement. Yhancy Brazobán entered in the ninth with a two-run cushion to preserve the Los Angeles win. Dodgers All-Star closer and former Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagné had been placed on the disabled list after his save performance on June 13,10 and Brazobán was called on to fill the closer role. He had converted 11 of 13 save opportunities since Gagné went down at the start of the season.

Chicago’s first batter in the ninth, Tadahito Iguchi, worked a full count and then walked. Thomas grounded out (Iguchi took second) and Paul Konerko flied out. Carl Everett singled on a 2-and-2 count to drive in Iguchi. Guillén inserted Willie Harris as a pinch-runner for Everett, and on Brazobán’s first pitch to Aaron Rowand, Harris stole second base. According to the Los Angeles Times, “[catcher Jason] Phillips did not throw; he had no play because Brazobán’s release time is so slow.”11 Rowand also had two strikes when he singled up the middle, plating Harris with the game-tying run. That brought Pierzynski to the batter’s box. He worked a 3-and-1 count before fouling off three pitches. On Brazobán’s eighth offering, Pierzynski popped the ball up, and believing he had made the game’s final out, threw his bat in disgust. Fortunately, the ball landed on the Dodgers’ dugout, out of play. Pierzynski then made the most of his new life at the plate by crushing a “two-run, two-out, two-strike second-chance homer” to left-center, 414 feet from home plate.12 Dessens’ strong start had been wasted, and the Dodgers had lost their fifth straight game.

The 36,067 fans went wild. This was Chicago’s 20th come-from-behind victory of the season (and their 10th in their last at-bat). Despite getting just six hits, Chicago had won in a walk-off, 5-3. In the dugout, Pierzynski told reporters, “This is my first walk-off anything.”13 This was only the fourth walk-off win of the season for the White Sox, and just the second time Chicago had won with a walk-off home run.14

Chicago swept Los Angeles in the series and continued to win, posting an eight-game winning streak from June 15 to 24. It was the White Sox’ longest streak of the season (tied with eight-game stretches from April 18-25 and April 30-May 8). The White Sox ended the 2005 season with 38 comeback wins and five walk-off victories, en route to 99 wins and a World Series victory. In a 154-game schedule, the 1959 White Sox team won 94 games. This total included 45 comeback wins and 11 walk-off wins. Their longest winning streak was also eight games (May 9-16, 1959).15 The Go-Go Sox would have been proud that the 2005 White Sox had beaten the clock for a last-minute victory.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA200506180.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2005/B06180CHA2005.htm

Notes

1 Dave van Dyck, “White Sox Bits: Guillén Praises Talent of ’59 World Series Sox,” Chicago Tribune, June 19, 2005: 3-4. Only one Hall of Famer played on the 2005 White Sox: Frank Thomas.

2 “White Sox Bits: Guillén praises talent of ’59 World Series Sox.”

3 In early April Chicago spent five days tied for the first-place spot, but since April 18, the White Sox held the top spot in the standings on their own.

4 Buehrle ran the streak to 26 innings before yielding a run in the eighth inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals on June 22.

5 Mark Gonzales, “Sox Shutout Right Out of Hollywood,” Chicago Tribune, June 19, 2005: 3-4. Buehrle, Chicago’s 26-year-old left-hander, was the American League’s starting pitcher in the 2005 All-Star Game and finished seventh in the 2005 AL Cy Young Award balloting.

6 On June 27, 2004, Garcia was traded by the Mariners with Ben Davis to the White Sox for Mike Morse, Miguel Olivo, and Jeremy Reed.

7 Dave van Dyck, “Pierzynski’s 2-Out HR Caps 9th-Inning Rally,” Chicago Tribune, June 19, 2005: 3-1.

8 “Pierzynski’s 2-Out HR Caps 9th-Inning Rally.”

9 “Pierzynski’s 2-Out HR Caps 9th-Inning Rally.” The 1906 White Sox won the American League pennant and the World Series despite having the fewest hits (1,133 – the league average was 1,256), home runs (7 – the league average was 17) and the lowest batting average (.230 – the league average was .249) in the AL.

10 Initially, Gagné went on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained ligament in his right elbow. This was the same problem that sidelined him for the first 35 games of the season. On June 21 the Dodgers announced that Gagné would undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery. See “Gagne Goes on DL With Elbow Injury,” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2005/06/16/gagne-goes-on-dl-with-elbow-injury/a0239a90-8a8f-4a13-916f-e4711ef45035/. Accessed March 2024.

11 Bill Shaikin, “Dodgers Socked in Ninth,” Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2005: D1, D11.

12 “Pierzynski’s 2-Out HR Caps 9th-Inning Rally.”

13 “Pierzynski’s 2-Out HR Caps 9th-Inning Rally.” In his career, Pierzynski had seven walk-off hits, including three home runs.

14 The White Sox finished the 2005 season with just five walk-off wins, and the last three were via the home run: Jermaine Dye on May 31 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Pierzynski on June 18 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Crede on September 20 against the Cleveland Indians.

15 Comeback-win and walk-off-win stats are not available for the 1906 team. However, the “Hitless Wonders” had a 19-game winning streak (August 2-23, 1906).