One of the White Sox' kryptonite this season is closing out games.
For a while, the White Sox struggled in crunch time without closer Liam Hendriks, who has an elite knack for closing out teams in the ninth inning.
With Hendriks back, and some hot and productive bats, they've improved in this area. On Friday, the White Sox earned their third straight home game walk-off. The White Sox have six walk-off wins this season.
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During the White Sox-Tigers June 3 contest, Yoán Moncada walked off the game in wild fashion, stealing home plate on a wild pitch that struck the umpire's mask and darted away from the catcher. The next day, Jake Burger -- who has an exceedingly hot bat this season -- destroyed a walk-off grand slam to left field to cap a series sweep.
And on Friday, Luis Robert Jr. gave the White Sox their third straight home walk-off win. He singled down the left-field line to score Elvis Andrus from second base.
"Like I said, and I'll repeat this over and over again. It doesn't matter where we're at and what venue we're at, I think he's the best center fielder in the game," Pedro Grifol said of Robert Jr. after Friday's game. "Just my opinion. I see him every night. I don't see others every night. But I see him every night. It's hard for me to think there's somebody out there who's better."
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The Marlins are the best one-score team in MLB, as shown by the NBC Sports Chicago broadcast. They are 16-4 this season in one-score games, leaving the White Sox' chances grim by logic.
Before Robert's at-bat, the White Sox struggled to provide on offense with runners in scoring position, too. They were 1-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10 runners before Robert's walk-off.
Their Friday night walk-off win should serve as some semblance of the club's fight to climb the AL Central. They struggled at the plate all game but fought with resilience. The Sox are winners of six games in the last seven contests, narrowing the gap to 3.5 games back from the division-leading Minnesota Twins and 1.5 games on the second-place Cleveland Guardians.