Lillibridge really catching on for White Sox

Brent Lillibridge’s growing popularity took another huge leap Saturday night.

Seriously, it did.

And in the eighth inning, when it looked like the White Sox were headed for a second straight gut-kicking loss to the woeful Oakland Athletics.

Clinging to a 3-2 lead, Sox starter John Danks yielded a single to Daric Barton leading off the inning. Jemile Weeks sacrificed Barton to second base.

At that point the U.S. Cellular Field crowd of 24,391 started stirring, and the too-fresh memory of Friday’s horrific 7-5 loss probably was coming up like some bad fish.

On cue, Coco Crisp came to the plate for Oakland and smoked a drive to left field.

“Coco hit it on the barrel,” Danks said afterward. “I thought it was halfway up the concourse.”

The cool, drizzly weather prevented that, but Crisp still should have had a 2-run homer to give the A’s the lead.

Lillibridge had other ideas.

The White Sox’ converted infielder drifted back and back and suddenly found himself at the wall.

“It just kind of stayed up,” Lillibridge recounted. “I didn’t think it was actually going to go out the way the ball was carrying tonight. I just picked up the wall, just thought, ‘All right, I’m just going to have to jump and take a chance.’

“I actually didn’t think I was going to have to run into the wall that hard. It was big.”

Lillibridge ran into the wall, for sure, but he also got up in the air high enough to glove the drive and steal a home run from Crisp.

Lillibridge has been making highlight catches all season — remember the two in a row in the bottom of the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium on April 26 to seal a 3-2 win?

Saturday’s snag only added to his legend.

“I’m speechless, I really am,” Danks said. “That was unbelievable.”

Lillibridge is unbelievable. So much so, Danks paid the “utility” outfielder the ultimate compliment after the win.

“Obviously Paulie (Konerko), Alexei (Ramirez) and (Carlos) Quentin are having just huge years,” Danks said. “But you have to think of (Lillibridge) as team MVP at this point. We were talking amongst ourselves and you’ve got to find him a spot in the field every day, that’s how good he’s been playing this year.

“This isn’t the first time he’s saved a game. He’s been a great teammate and an even better teammate on the field.”

Catcher Ramon Castro echoed Danks.

“He’s like the secret weapon for the team,” Castro said. “You can put him anywhere and he does the job.”

The most admirable thing about Lillibridge is his attitude has not changed one bit from the days when he was playing maybe once or twice a week. Almost overnight he has made himself into the White Sox’ best outfielder at all three positions.

“It’s just working the outfield during batting practice, get some feel for it and just trust your first instinct and run after the ball,” Lillibridge said. “It’s a lot of fun diving for balls and jumping at the fence and that kind of stuff.

“It was an unbelievable experience the ways the fans cheered for me. That’s something I’ll always remember.”

sgregor@dailyherald.com