Guardians walk off White Sox after defensively bizarre ninth-inning

After Pedro Grifol was ejected for arguing a questionable strikeout call to Tommy Pham, the White Sox stormed back against the Guardians on Tuesday night.

With two outs against them in the seventh inning, Luis Robert Jr. singled to center, scoring Nicky Lopez and Lenyn Sosa, lifting the White Sox to tie the Guardians, 6-6.

But in the bottom of the ninth inning, everything fell apart for the White Sox.

Andrés Giménez kicked off the inning with a single against Michael Kopech. He got to second base after Tyler Freeman grounded out to first base.

While pitching to Bo Naylor, Kopech stepped incorrectly on the mound, causing a wild pitch that went behind Naylor. The wild pitch allowed Giménez to move to third base.

“He tried to execute the pitch and he didn’t. That’s all,” Grifol said after the game.

Naylor then hit a sacrifice fly to Luis Robert Jr. in center field, who oddly didn’t attempt a throw to home plate with the game in his hands. He cocked back like he was going to throw, then resisted, holding the ball until Giménez scored the walk-off run.

After the game, Grifol downplayed the play by Robert Jr., conceding he had no play to make.

“First of all, he’s playing in because there’s one out. The ball was hit 309, 310 feet. He’s playing in, he’s going back,” Grifol said. “Even if he runs back and comes in there’s no play there. If we’re gonna dissect that we’re making something out of nothing.”

White Sox’ Luis Robert Jr. held up on a throw to home in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the Guardians to win on an uncontested run

Here’s how Chuck Garfien and Ozzie Guillen broke down the strange ninth inning on NBC Sports Chicago’s “White Sox Postgame Live” show.

From Michael Kopech’s injury to Luis Robert Jr.’s decision not to throw home on the final play, Chuck Garfien and Ozzie Guillen take a look at the odd moments in the bottom of the ninth inning vs. the Guardians on Tuesday

Click here to follow the White Sox Talk Podcast.