The White Sox lost a heartbreaker to the Tigers in Detroit on Friday night, 2-1. But the loss stung a little more than others on account of the way it ended.
With one out in the top of the ninth inning, and the White Sox down one run, Andrew Benintendi hit a ball into center field and Paul DeJong --- who was a runner on first base --- took off, not knowing there was one out. Matt Vierling caught the ball and tossed it back to first base to double up the Sox and end the game.
"Mental lapse there," DeJong said after the game. "I'm worried about getting on base and didn't keep track of it. And that's totally on me, it cost us a game. Feels pretty bad but just gonna try to be better next time, that's all I can say."
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For the White Sox, who own the league's worst record (20-57) by a landslide 7.5 games, losing on account of a mental error leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Before the play, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch challenged DeJong's hit-by-pitch at-bat, claiming the White Sox shortstop wasn't hit. In all likelihood, Hinch challenged because it was available to him in the ninth inning and the Tigers were only up by one run.
DeJong said after the game he was focused a little too much on the play.
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"I don't really want to make excuses. I gotta know the situation. I was a little emotionally invested in the review because I thought it was a hit-by-pitch. Just kinda, maybe, took a little bit of the rhythm out of the game for me."
It's a curious play and shared responsibility alongside first base coach Jason Bourgeois. His job is to make sure DeJong, although a veteran of the game, is aware of the situation at hand.
But at the end of the day, it was a mental error on DeJong, and those plays happen.
"I leave those answers to those guys. They're professionals," Pedro Grifol said after the game. "DeJong plays the game really hard every day. He prepares. If he said he had a mental lapse, he had a mental lapse. That's part of it. We're all human."