SEATTLE — SEATTLE (AP) — It took Zach Remillard seven seasons in the minors before he finally got the call he was headed to the majors.
It took one game — off the bench, no less — for Remillard to join some rare company both in White Sox and big league history.
“That's probably one of the better debuts I've ever seen, if not the best,” Chicago teammate Andrew Benintendi said.
After entering as a mid-game sub due to injury, Remillard rallied the White Sox to a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday. His base hit in the ninth inning scored the tying run, and his RBI single with two outs in the 11th gave Chicago the lead.
Brought up from Triple-A Charlotte on Thursday, Remillard had no guarantee of getting into a game this weekend in Seattle. Yet his family made the trip to the Pacific Northwest hoping to see his dream of playing in the majors come to fruition.
It happened in the fourth inning when Tim Anderson left with a sore shoulder and Remillard capitalized on his opportunity, getting on base four times with a walk, a bunt single and the two biggest hits of the game.
Remillard became the seventh player in White Sox history and first since 1998 to have three hits in his debut. He is the 10th player in major league history to have three hits off the bench in his debut, and one of two since 1976.
“Before I went out there, (Chicago reliever) Joe Kelly’s like, `There’s two options — either you do good or you do bad.' And he just kept it simple,” Remillard said. “And for some reason that calmed me down. We’re just out here playing the game we love.”
Benintendi set up Remillard's opportunities in both the ninth and 11th. He singled off Seattle reliever Tayler Saucedo (2-1) with two outs in the 11th to put runners at the corners, his sixth time on base in the game. Remillard followed with a line drive into right-center that scored Elvis Andrus.
Andrus also scored on Remillard's single in the ninth that forced extra innings. Remillard singled with one out off Paul Sewald to tie it 3-all. Andrus opened the ninth with a single and advanced to second on Benintendi’s walk.
It was Sewald's second blown save of the season.
“This one hurts a little bit that we let it slip away,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Eloy Jiménez homered for the second time in three games, hitting his eighth of the season for Chicago. Luis Robert Jr. had a two-out RBI single in the fifth to pull the White Sox even at 2.
Seattle's J.P. Crawford homered on Lucas Giolito's first pitch and Teoscar Hernández extended his June tear with an RBI single, but the Mariners failed with a chance to win the game in the 10th inning. Pinch-hitter Cal Raleigh struck out and Eugenio Suárez grounded out against Aaron Bummer (2-1) with Julio Rodríguez standing at third as the potential winning run.
Seattle didn't have a hit after Hernández's single in the fifth. Jesse Scholtens pitched the 11th for his first major league save.
“Overall, it was the best win of the year for us, in my opinion. This was a resilient, gutsy win,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said.
STARTING OFF
Logan Gilbert threw 5 1/3 innings for Seattle, allowing two runs and six hits. It was a solid rebound for Gilbert after he lasted just three innings and gave up six runs in his last start against the Angels.
Giolito had allowed only one earned run over 13 innings in his previous two starts. He gave up eight hits, walked three and struck out five.
ANDERSON'S DAY
Anderson's day started with him moved out of Chicago's leadoff spot for the first time since the end of the 2019 season and ended with him leaving in the fourth inning.
The shortstop's move to the No. 2 hole in the batting order snapped a streak of 299 consecutive starts atop the lineup. The last time Anderson started and hit somewhere other than first was the final game of the 2019 regular season when he batted second.
The team said Anderson was day-to-day with shoulder soreness.
UP NEXT
White Sox: RHP Lance Lynn (4-6, 6.72 ERA) allowed four earned runs and two homers in his last start against the Dodgers. In his career, Lynn is 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA in seven starts against Seattle.
Mariners: RHP Bryce Miller (4-3, 4.06) allowed one hit and struck out six over six innings in his last start against Miami. Miller has four starts this season of at least six innings and two or fewer hits allowed.