Philadelphia, PA – Alexei Ramirez ripped a go-ahead double in the top of the 11th inning to help the Chicago White Sox earn a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a doubleheader Saturday at Citizens Bank Park.
After the Phillies left runners on second and third in the ninth and 10th innings, Alejandro De Aza kept the top of the 11th alive with a two-out triple into the gap in left-center field.
Ramirez then doubled to right-center off J.C. Ramirez (0-1) to score De Aza for a 4-3 advantage.
Alex Rios followed with a grounder to shortstop that should have ended the inning, but Jimmy Rollins booted the ball, allowing Ramirez to score from second for a two-run cushion.
Ramon Troncoso (1-2) was awarded the victory after pitching out of trouble in the 10th, while Addison Reed nailed down his 24th save of the season, despite giving up a run in the bottom of the 11th.
Ramirez registered four hits and De Aza finished 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI for the White Sox, who have won three of their last four games.
Darin Ruf's solo homer in the seventh tied the game at 3-3, but the Phillies, who finished 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position, were unable to cash in late as they fell for second time in their last three games.
With the game locked at 3-3 heading into the home half of the ninth, Kevin Frandsen and Ruf smacked consecutive singles to start the frame.
Both runners moved up a base on Nate Jones' balk, but the Chicago reliever retired the next three Phillies in order to leave the go-ahead run on third.
Philadelphia again got a runner on third with less than two outs in the 10th, but Delmon Young struck out swinging before Frandsen grounded out to short to squander yet another opportunity to win the game.
After Chicago pulled ahead in the 11th, the Phillies made things interesting in the bottom half when Ruf laced a leadoff double and scored two batters later on pinch-hitter Humberto Quintero's single to center to trim the margin in half.
However, Reed got Ben Revere to ground into a game-ending 5-4-3 double play.
The news went from bad to worse for Revere after the game, as X-rays revealed a break in the center fielder's right foot. The injury occurred earlier in his final at-bat when he fouled a pitch off the inside of his right foot.
Early on, the Phillies grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first after Rollins reached on a fielder's choice and Michael Young followed with a double.
Domonic Brown's groundout scored Rollins before Delmon Young singled to left to plate Michael Young for a two-run edge.
Chicago pushed a pair of runs across in the fifth to tie the game, as Josh Phegley and Gordon Beckham ripped back-to-back singles to start the frame before both runners moved up a base on Chicago starter John Danks' bunt.
De Aza's double down the right-field line plated both runners to tie the game.
Chicago pulled ahead in the sixth when Conor Gillaspie lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Adam Dunn, who led off with a walk and moved to third on Dayan Viciedo's double to left.
Game Notes
This three-game series was supposed to start Friday, but rain forced Saturday's day/night doubleheader ... Chicago's Hector Santiago will start the nightcap of the doubleheader against Philadelphia left-hander John Lannan ... Revere went 2-for-6 to extend his hit-streak to 10 games ... Danks allowed three runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings ... Philadelphia starter Jonathan Pettibone yielded three runs on six hits and four walks over six innings ... The Phillies are playing host to the White Sox for the first time since sweeping a three-game series from June 11-13, 2007.
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