Leury García came up with the go-ahead run at second base and two outs in the top of the ninth. The Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants were scoreless.
The Sox second baseman had one thing on his mind.
“Bring the guys in,” he said.
García did just that, knocking in Adam Haseley with a single to right to lead the Sox to a 1-0 victory Friday night. Haseley scored just ahead of Mike Yastrzemski’s throw as the Sox won the opener of the three-game series in thrilling fashion in front of 35,266 at Oracle Park.
“I know (reliever Camilo Doval) is a pretty good pitcher,” García said. “Everybody knows that. He’s got pretty good stuff. I tried to put the ball in play and drive the guys in.”
García picked the perfect time for his biggest hit of the season.
“That was good, a good game,” García said. “We got the W.”
García entered Friday with a .193 batting average and 12 RBIs in 54 games. He went 2-for-4 Friday.
“He’s been better lately, just got to watch, watch his at-bats the last weeks, not like they were earlier,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s getting closer and closer. He’s a big-time player, got a big-time hit against a big-time arm out there.”
The tense game went to the ninth scoreless. With one out, Gavin Sheets hit a grounder to first. Doval didn’t catch Brandon Belt’s throw to the base and was charged with an error.
Haseley ran for Sheets and moved to second on a two-out hit by AJ Pollock. García was up next, and he came through on a 2-2 pitch.
“I’ve been feeling good the last two weeks and honestly I don’t have the results that I want,” García said. “My mind is always get a hit. Try to get a hit and that’s what happened.”
Teammates were glad to see García deliver in that spot.
“That was awesome,” Sox starter Lance Lynn said. “He’s had a little struggle early on this year. He’s not going to shy away from that, but he gets his work in every day. He’s ready to play, wherever you tell him to go play, whatever part of the lineup.
“For him to get that knock there, hopefully that kind of gets the weight off his shoulders and now he can just relax and go play and be the player that we all know he is.”
Lynn put the Sox in position for the win, allowing three hits, striking out five and walking two in six innings.
“As a competitor you love the back and forth, no runs scoring,” Lynn said. “But you’d like a couple of runs there just to give yourself some wiggle room. But it’s fun to compete. I’ve pitched against (Giants starter) Alex (Cobb) a long time, so that was fun to compete against him and we were able to come through there at the end.”
Lynn escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and then settled in, at one point retiring 12 consecutive batters.
Lynn made his fourth start of the season after returning from right knee surgery in the spring to repair a torn tendon.
“That’s part of the process here,” Lynn said. “Once you get into the flow of what you’re doing and your pitches and everything like that, everything starts rolling a little bit different.
“With the wind blowing in, I was able to let the elements work for me.”
There was a brief scare in the third.
Giants left fielder Joc Pederson called for time just as Lynn went into his windup.
Lynn stopped before throwing and walked behind the mound.
The training staff, La Russa and pitching coach Ethan Katz checked on Lynn, who remained in the game after throwing a warmup pitch. La Russa said he tweaked the knee “a little bit” but he was OK.
“When you’re in the middle of going and try to stop, with a couple of less tendons it will do that,” Lynn said. “(Pederson) said ‘My bad’ (after the at-bat) and I said ‘All good.’ It’s part of the game.”
Lynn allowed a two-out double in the fifth, but LaMonte Wade Jr. flied out to left. Lynn gave up a one-out single in the sixth, but retired the next two. He struck out Yastrzemski, his final batter of the night.
Joe Kelly and Tanner Banks both struck out one, pitching the seventh and eighth respectively. Banks, who was credited with the victory, induced a double play during his inning.
The Sox took advantage of the error in the ninth, and Haseley exhibited solid base running to score on García’s single.
Kendall Graveman pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save. The final play was a grounder to García.
“Coming off an off day (Thursday) after losing two of three (to the Los Angeles Angels), we have to find ways to win games,” Lynn said. “A 1-0 win on the road, that’s a nice win for us.”
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