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MIAMI (AP) — When catcher Dioner Navarro reached the dugout after scoring from third base on a strikeout, he draped himself over a teammate's shoulders as if on the verge of collapsing from his 90-foot sprint.
The run put the Chicago White Sox ahead to stay, capping a bizarre eighth-inning comeback that helped them beat the Miami Marlins 8-7 on Saturday night.
The White Sox blew an early 4-0 lead and trailed 7-6 to start the eighth. They rallied against Kyle Barraclough (6-3) with the help of a walk, two wild pitches and Justin Morneau's first pinch-hit of the year, a double.
After Morneau tied it, the Sox had runners at the corners with two out. Melky Cabrera took a weak swing at a 2-2 slider in the dirt, and the wild pitch skipped away from catcher J.T. Realmuto, allowing Cabrera to reach first while the 215-pound Navarro chugged home.
"Sometimes we need to catch breaks like that to win games," Navarro said.
"It's a good feeling to see a ball get away and Dio actually score on that," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "I don't think you could ever imagine it."
Realmuto retrieved the ball and tossed it to Barraclough covering the plate, but the pitcher failed to glove the throw as Navarro slid under him.
"I have to catch the ball," Barraclough said.
Miami's Giancarlo Stanton singled with two out in the ninth but was an easy out trying to stretch the hit into a double. He stumbled and fell approaching second base, was slow to rise and limped off the field.
"It didn't look real good," manager Don Mattingly said. "I saw the replay, and it looked like he pulled something. He felt something in his groin area."
The White Sox overcame another awful outing by James Shields, who allowed 10 hits and seven runs in three-plus innings.
"Overall it wasn't very good," Shields said. "I've just got to keep grinding."
Shields has an ERA of 20.25 over his past three starts, all losses, and his ERA for the season with the Sox is 7.34.
"He takes it harder than anybody else," Ventura said. "They hit him around pretty good."
Chicago used five relievers. Chris Beck (1-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his first career win, and David Robertson earned his 29th save.
The Sox improved to 20-22 in one-run games. They've played the most in the majors.
The Marlins had 14 hits, but lost their third game in a row. They've dropped 10 of the past 15.
Stanton hit his 25th homer and added a two-run single for the Marlins. Martin Prado hit a three-run homer, his seventh.
Marlins left-hander Adam Conley struggled and departed after four innings with a 7-5 lead. Conley said he has been pitching with soreness in his left hand after banging it on the roof of the dugout at Wrigley Field last week celebrating a teammate's home run.
"I just couldn't throw the ball as hard as I want to," he said. "It has just kind of been nagging around and getting worse as I've been throwing."
Dan Coats hit his first career homer for Chicago. Jose Abreu hit a two-out RBI double in the first, and Tyler Saladino hit a two-out, two-run double in the second.
The Sox scored a run in the sixth on a replay reversal. With the bases loaded, Tim Anderson was called out on a force at the plate but ruled safe following a review, cutting Miami's lead to 7-6.
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: 2B Brett Lawrie (hamstring) was sent to Double-A Birmingham on a rehab assignment. "We'll see how he handles the first few games and go from there," Ventura said.
Marlins: LHP Wei-Yin Chen (elbow) has begun a throwing program, and the earliest he might return is mid-September, Mattingly said.
UP NEXT
The Marlins will skip ace Jose Fernandez's scheduled turn Sunday to keep him on pace for his 180-inning limit this season. Instead, RHP Tom Koehler will start against LHP Chris Sale (14-5, 3.16). In his past four starts, Koehler is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.67. "He has been our best pitcher since the All-Star break," Mattingly said.
Sale is 0-3 in his past five games and hasn't won since his suspension for cutting up the team's throwback jerseys July 23.
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