Thanks to Josh Harrison's two-out bloop single in the bottom of the 12th that mercifully drove in the elusive winning run, so many people can get on with their evenings.
José Abreu can rest easier after running 180 feet on two legs even though one of them stopped working after about 145.
Vince Velasquez can rest easier after holding the Blue Jays to one run in the 11th, and zero runs in the 12th. Had Harrison not come through, he would've been pitching the 13th, and probably beyond.
Tony La Russa can rest easier, with nobody second-guessing his decision to use Davis Martin in high leverage with the White Sox leading 2-1 in the eighth. With the combination of control lapses and terrible batted-ball luck, it's like Aaron Bummer came off the injured list early, although Martin struggled with a huge zone 13 of 27 pitches for strikes).
Tim Anderson and Danny Mendick can rest easier, knowing their outs on the basepaths didn't come back to cost them. Mendick got thrown out at home by 40 feet on a contact play in one of many ill-fated grounders to Matt Chapman with runners in scoring position, while Anderson was picked off by the second straight game. Anderson also grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the 10th, ruining an even better chance to win two innings earlier than they did.
Seby Zavala can rest easier, not having to think about his strikeouts with runners in scoring position, or his throw to second on a stolen-base attempt that could best be described as a good piece of hitting, finding the hole on the vacated right side with a runner in motion.
Dylan Cease already could rest just fine after striking out 11 Jays over six innings of one-hit, no-run ball, but at least he knows that he contributed to a win instead of a loss.
Everybody in a White Sox uniform can rest easier knowing that Doug Eddings' black hole of a strike zone didn't cost them the game. Now we can all sit back and wait for the ump scorecard to put a number on the ludicrous inaccuracy.
Jordan Romero will not be sleeping well. The Toronto closer entered with a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning and erased a leadoff walk to Harrison with a double play off the bat of Mendick. Three chances to record the final out weren't enough. Tim Anderson on four pitches, gave up a double to Andrew Vaughn, followed by a two-run single to Luis Robert that tied the game at 4.
Kendall Graveman gave up a first-pitch RBI double to score the Manfred Man in the 10th, but the Sox knotted it up with singles by Harrison and Mendick. Velasquez started his appearance with a balk, an HBP and an RBI single, but despite Cavan Biggio bunting a potential insurance run to third with two outs to play, Velasquez escaped with no further damage, getting a pair of groundouts to the left side over the course of three pitches. The Sox tied it up in the 11th with manufacturing because the inning opened with Adam Haseley facing a lefty. He bunted the runner over, and a Robert sac fly made it 6-6.
Robert then helped keep the game tied in the top of the 12th, as he followed up Engel's fine running catch in right with a sliding catch in center that kept Vladimir Guerrero Jr. anchored at second base for two outs, followed by a more routine flyout to send it to the bottom of the inning. Siena College product Matt Gage also froze the Manfred Man through two outs, including Reese McGuire getting rung up on Eddings' last worst call of the night. Harrison also fell behind 1-2, but the final pitch of the game was inner-half than off the inside corner, and Harrison got just enough of it to be everything the White Sox needed.
Bullet points:
*Cease racked up 20 swinging strikes over 101 pitches, including 18 over the course of 50 sliders. The only hit he allowed was an infield single.
*Jimmy Lambert pitched the seventh in the first of two higher-leverage auditions and gave up a solo shot to Alejandro Kirk.
*Robert drove in four runs from the third spot, while Engel reached base five times (an RBI double, two singles and two walks), along with two stolen bases.
*The White Sox locked in a winning record against the AL East's top four teams this season. They'll finish no worse than 13-12 against the Yankees, Blue Jays, Rays and Red Sox.
*Seriously, that strike zone was godawful.
