The situation looked bleak early for the Chicago White Sox.
Facing elimination in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, the Sox trailed the Houston Astros by four runs heading to the bottom of the third.
But there was plenty of baseball remaining. And plenty of fight left in the Sox, who staged an epic comeback, then lost the lead only to rebound for a wild 12-6 victory in front of an electric crowd of 40,288 on Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Sox remain alive, trailing the Astros 2-1 in the best-of-five series. Game 4 is Monday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
For a portion of the night, the Astros appeared headed for a sweep.
Kyle Tucker had a two-run double during a three-run second and hit a two-run home run one inning later to give the Astros a 5-1 lead.
But a couple of swings in the bottom of the third swung the momentum back to the Sox.
Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run home run against Astros starter Luis García, cutting the deficit to 5-3.
Yoán Moncada and Gavin Sheets had back-to-back two-out singles. Luis Garcia fell behind in the count 2-0 to Leury García, and Astros manager Dusty Baker replaced him with Yimi García.
Leury García hit the reliever’s third pitch over the center-field wall for a three-run homer, giving the Sox a 6-5 lead.
The Astros had a two-out rally in the fourth, with Alex Bregman’s RBI single tying the score at 6.
It was a short-lived tie.
Tim Anderson and Luis Robert singled to begin the bottom of the fourth. José Abreu gave the Sox the lead again, knocking in Anderson with a single. Robert went to third on the hit.
And then things got weird.
Zack Greinke entered for the Astros and got Grandal to ground to first. Yuli Gurriel threw to the plate, and the ball deflected off Grandal’s left arm and went wide of the plate. Robert scored on the fielder’s choice, making it 8-6.
The Astros argued, but after the umpires gathered, the play stood.
Abreu, who went to third during the sequence, scored on an infield hit by Eloy Jiménez.
Ryan Tepera served as a stabilizer out of the bullpen for the Sox. The reliever, acquired in a July trade with the Cubs, struck out three in two perfect innings.
Aaron Bummer struck out the side in the seventh and retired the first two in the eighth. He was replaced by Craig Kimbrel, who got Yuli Gurriel to ground out to third.
After the Sox added three insurance runs in the eighth on RBI doubles by pinch hitter Andrew Vaughn and García and an RBI single by Anderson, closer Liam Hendriks pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, wrapping up a memorable evening and extending the series at least another day.
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