After losing lead and rallying, Chicago White Sox outlast Toronto Blue Jays in 12 innings for ‘a very special win’

A brilliant outing by Chicago White Sox starter Dylan Cease went to waste Tuesday when the bullpen coughed up a late lead, but the Sox rallied three times for a 7-6, 12-inning victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

After being no-hit by Cease through five innings and shut out through six, the Blue Jays came back to take the lead with a three-run eighth, only to watch the Sox tie it in the ninth on Luis Robert’s two-out, two-run single off Jordan Romano.

From there the game became a pingpong match with spikes.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s RBI double off Kendall Graveman in the 10th was matched by Danny Mednick’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the inning.

Raimel Tapia drove in a run off Vince Velasquez in the 11th before Robert’s sacrifice fly off Matt Gage tied it in the bottom of the inning.

Velasquez held the Jays scoreless in the 12th, and Josh Harrison’s two-out RBI single off Gage won it, setting off fireworks.

The game lasted 4 hours, 23 minutes.

“We kept battling until we got a win,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “It’s a very special win.”

At the end of the night, the Sox were at .500 again, 3½ games behind the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians, who moved into a first-place tie. The Sox and Blue Jays will play again Wednesday afternoon in the series finale, with Lucas Giolito starting for the Sox.

Cease left with a 2-0 lead after six innings, dominating from the outset. He struck out the first five batters and the final two he faced, tying a career high with 11 strikeouts, all coming on sliders. He didn’t allow a hit until Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s infield single leading off the sixth, and he walked two.

But the bullpen failed to get Cease his win, as La Russa went with Jimmy Lambert and Davis Martin in high-leverage situations. Alejandro Kirk’s solo home run off Lambert in the seventh sliced the Jays deficit in half before Martin gave up the lead in the eighth.

After a walk and infield hit put two men on, the runners were bunted over for pinch hitter Cavan Biggio, who lofted a pop-up behind second base. Shortstop Tim Anderson was in position for the catch but couldn’t turn around in time to find the ball, which dropped for a hit to tie the game at 2-2.

Bo Bichette followed with a grounder to short and reached when Biggio beat Anderson’s throw to second as Gurriel came around with the go-ahead run. After another walk to Guerrero, Martin was lifted for Jose Ruiz, who walked Kirk to force home another run.

The Sox staged a two-out rally in the ninth, ignited by Anderson’s walk and Andrew Vaughn’s double. Robert’s opposite-field single brought home the tying runs as the remnants of the crowd of 20,529 went wild.

José Abreu followed with a single, but Bradley Zimmer’s diving catch of AJ Pollock’s liner sent the game into extra innings.

And that’s when things got wild, overshadowing Cease’s outing.