September 26 Crowd Reacts

Some timely hitting by a baseball star ignited the crowd into cheers as their team won the game in a late season September 26, 2005 MLB contest.

September 26, 2005 saw a race for the Division lead in the AL Central when Chicago traveled to Detroit for a series. The Chicago White Sox were hanging on to a three game lead over their closest division rival, the Cleveland Indians when they met up with the Detroit Tigers. The Indians would be facing off against the Tampa Bay Rays later in the evening, so when the score of the ChiSox vs. Tigers game was tied going into the ninth there was a bit of trepidation in the air.

The Detroit squad that season was already out of contention, some 20 -odd games out of the division race, and had no shot at the American League wild card spot either. The Tigers were simply playing for pride in the role of a possible spoiler. All of the pressure was on the White Sox, and they knew it. Tied at 3 all the White Sox had runners in scoring position at 2nd and third with only one out. Sox catcher A J Pierzynski was struckout by Tigers hurler Jamie Walker and then Detroit sent in the arm of Chris Spurling who in turn sat down Chicago hitter Jermaine Dye on strikes. The Tigers got out of a jam with great pitching.

The score was knotted at three when the Sox batted in the top of the inning as Detroit failed to do much offensively on their side of the 8th inning. The Chicago defense with Fernando Rodney on the mound kept any Tigers runners from tapping home plate. That set the stage for the Tigers at bats in the bottom of the inning.

Up to bat first in the ninth for the Tigers was second year outfielder, Number 28 Curtis Granderson. The Detroit slugger stepped into the batters box with White Sox veteran right handed pitcher Cliff Politte, Number 18 on the mound. FIrst pitch was a called strike and put the batter in an 0-1 hole. On the next pitch, Granderson saw something he liked and swung hard. He connected and sent the ball over the left field wall of Tiger Stadium and trotted the bases hearing the Roar of the Crowd. The blast lifted the the Tigers to a 4-3 walk-off victory and more improtantly dropped the White Sox lead to two game in the Division race.

In the aftermath it was a happy ending in the long run for Chicago eventhough they lsot this game. The Indians also lost that day to the Rays, and never did catch the Sox in the race fininhing some 6 games behind them. Chicago finished strong with a 99–63 record in the regular season and first place in the American League Central division. They were on a tear that wouldn't soon end, as they got hot at the right time.

In the American League playoffs, the White Sox won the American League Division Series 3–0 over the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox, the American League Championship Series 4–1 over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the World Series 4–0 over the Houston Astros, ending an 88-year championship drought.

The banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of Curtis Granderson of the New York Mets takes an at-bat against the Chicago Cubs in the 2015 National League Championship Series contributed by D. Benjamin Miller

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from Newspapers.com