A long season for the Chicago White Sox got even longer on Friday night. Despite getting their first home run from a player not named Adam Dunn since May 22 — Tyler Flowers hit a solo shot in the third — the southsiders dropped a gut-wrenching 4-3 decision to the Oakland A's.
Simply stated, it was two plays made by Oakland that supplied the wrenching effects.
The first, was Josh Donaldson's opposite field grand slam in the sixth inning that gave Oakland their 4-3 lead. Somewhat surprisingly, that was Oakland's first grand slam of the season, and it took them a league high 88 plate appearances to get it.
The other happened in the ninth inning with Conor Gillaspie at the plate. On Grant Balfour's 1-2 pitch, Gillaspie unloaded to right for what appeared to be a game-tying solo home run. A's right fielder Josh Reddick had other plans, though, as he reached above the wall to make a game-saving, home run-robbing grab that sent the Oakland bullpen into a frenzy, and White Sox play-by-play announcer Hawk Harrelson into a state of disbelief.
You can take a listen to Hawk's call right here.
Try as he might, Hawk couldn't quite get the ball to "stretch, stretch!" Instead if was Reddick doing the stretching, and the robbing, while the White Sox did the losing for the 10th time in 11 games. This one comes just 24 hours after Hawk thought Adam Dunn had a game-tying home run in the tenth, only to fall short at the wall. And that's not to mention Wednesday's rollercoaster in Seattle.
If baseball Gods do exist, they're having a lot of fun toying with Hawk this week. As he might say in response: "Mercy!" He can't take much more of this.
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