White Sox slugger strikes out in bizarre fashion vs Cardinals

Chicago White Sox slugger Eloy Jimenez struck out in a bizarre fashion against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday in the bottom of the second inning of their matchup.

Jimenez was down 0-2 in the count, and as Cardinals pitcher Steven Matz was in his windup to deliver the next pitch, the White Sox designated hitter tried to call time-out. He turned toward the home plate umpire and asked for a time-out. But he wasn’t granted one.

Matz was in the process of throwing a pitch when Jimenez stepped out of the batter’s box. The curveball came, and the umpire called strike three.

Jimenez turned toward the umpire as he walked back to the dugout and suggested he needed to be focused on the pitch when Matz threw the ball. Regardless, Jimenez was out. He finished the game 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

St. Louis won the game in 10 innings, 4-3.

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Matz, who had been put on relief duty after going 0-6 with a 5.72 ERA in his first 10 starts, started his first game since May 24. He went 5 1/3 innings, racking up nine strikeouts and allowing one run on two hits. The run was unearned, and he lowered his ERA to 4.65.

“He pitched with a little bit of edge today,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said. “Today we [saw] him very convicted.”

Chicago’s Lucas Giolito had five strikeouts in seven innings. He allowed a home run to Willson Contreras in the fourth inning – a two-run shot.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.