Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel was just 5-of-19 going into his twelfth inning at bat against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday afternoon, but he came up big when it counted to help the White Sox finish the comeback with a 10-7 victory.
Morel’s line drive to right that scored Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez to cap the White Sox rally in the top of the twelfth inning was the go-ahead hit that capped off a rally that saw the White Sox trailing 6-3 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth inning.
With the win, the White Sox managed to split the series while simultaneously ending the Royals’ four-game win streak.
While Morel’s late-inning heroics were certainly clutch, the ninth-inning rally was just as impressive.
Chicago trailed 6-3 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth while facing Royals closer Joakim Soria, but he was no match for the White Sox bats as Juan Pierre singled, Gordon Beckham walked and Alex Rios ripped an RBI single off to score Pierre. After Paul Konerko singled in a run to make it 6-5, Carlos Quentin came through with a go-ahead, two-run double to give the White Sox their first lead of the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, Royals first baseman Kila Ka’aihue’s hit an RBI single off Matt Thornton to tie the game until Morel came through in the twelfth.