NewsCombo of miscues costs Sox first game
Errors, sputtering offense overshadow comeback bid
By Jesse Temple / MLB.com
06/08/09 7:47 PM ET
CHICAGO -- The White Sox have found many ways to lose during their season-high 12-game homestand. Deficient hitting. Poor starting pitching. Bad defense.Monday afternoon's flattening performance against the Tigers in Game 1 of a split doubleheader at U.S. Cellular Field may have taken the cake, however. It rolled all of those imperfections into one and spit out a 5-4 defeat.
"We've lost some games recently," first baseman Paul Konerko said, "but that one was a heartbreaker."
Chicago has now lost six of its past seven games and fell to 2-6 on the homestand with the setback.
This game was particularly agonizing due to both the manner in which the White Sox lost and the circumstances surrounding the defeat.
A victory for the White Sox, and they would have entered the nightcap just 3 1/2 games behind the American League Central-leading Tigers. Instead, the South Siders fell 5 1/2 games back with four contests remaining in the five-game series.
Detroit's Brandon Inge hit the game-winning single off reliever Scott Linebrink with one out in the top of the ninth inning, a shot to left field that scored Tigers pinch-runner Josh Anderson from second.
Anderson pinch-ran for Miguel Cabrera, who reached on Josh Fields' error at third base. Fields bobbled a routine grounder from Cabrera for the team's third error of the day -- the most the White Sox have had in a game this season.
"It was a ball we work on all the time that you are supposed to field with your glove and then transfer it over," Fields said. "I tried to go in with both hands, and that's where you get the bobble."
The blunder capped off an afternoon in which the White Sox also were unable to execute in the starting-pitching department and offensively in key situations against Tigers starter Armando Galarraga (3-6), who hadn't won a game in seven starts.
Lost opportunities on the offensive end highlighted the loss. A.J. Pierzynski grounded out to second to end the first inning with runners on first and third. Konerko then struck out to end the third with runners on first and third.
Fields and Dewayne Wise were then unable to score Chris Getz from third with one out in the fourth. Getz's unsuccessful bunt attempt with nobody out and Pierzynski on first in the eighth came next, which resulted in a fielder's choice.
It's only early June, so White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has done well holding in his emotions with the media during this abysmal recent stretch. But he clearly is losing his patience.
"If this was the 1980s, [none] of these guys would be in the big leagues right now," Guillen said, "because if you hit .210-.230 and you can't execute, I don't think you should be out here. When you can't bunt, hit-and-run, squeeze and move the guy over, you better hit 40 home runs and drive in 140."
The White Sox managed nine hits, the most they've posted in one game on the homestand. The White Sox are now 2-for-44 (.045) with runners in scoring position in their past seven games, including 0-for-5 in Monday's game.
For the second consecutive day, the White Sox bullpen was forced to eat innings because a starter was unable to last beyond the fifth inning. On Monday, the starter was Clayton Richard, who went 4 2/3 innings while striking out four and walking five.
Richard ran into problems in the fifth with two men already out in the inning. He allowed a single to Magglio Ordonez and back-to-back walks to Miguel Cabrera and Marcus Thames, loading the bases for Inge. Inge then coaxed a third consecutive walk, bringing in Ordonez for a 3-1 lead and knocking Richard from the game.
Twelve of Richard's final 15 pitches were balls, and he left after exactly 100 pitches, 57 of them for strikes.
"I finally got into a little bit of a rhythm and just seemed to fall apart there in the fifth," Richard said. "When you get behind, you have to make better pitches than you would if you're ahead. It just happened hitter after hitter."
D.J. Carrasco saved the White Sox bullpen, entering in middle relief and tossing 3 1/3 innings, striking out five and walking none.
Lost in the poor performance were two big home runs from two of the team's power hitters.
Right fielder Jermaine Dye tied the contest at three in the fifth with a two-run home run, his team-leading 15th on the season. The shot was Dye's 152nd home run with the White Sox, tying him with Carlos Lee for eighth place in franchise history.
And first baseman Konerko tied the game at four with a leadoff solo home run in the eighth off reliever Joel Zumaya.
On this day, however, it wouldn't be enough.
The White Sox had just a few hours to regroup before the nightcap of Monday's doubleheader. Guillen wasn't particularly fond of having to watch what was to come.
"I wish I was home and had some fun," Guillen said. "It's not easy to walk to the park and play and hope you can win the game. I'm a competitor. I like to win. When you lose ... I think I got spoiled in the past by winning. And I don't like to lose."
Jesse Temple is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
