It's a sign of the season that a skid-snapping win still feels like a letdown.
Bobby Jenks came into the game in the ninth inning having retired 41 consecutive hitters, tying the major-league record. Unfortunately, he had to face Joey Gathright leading off the inning. Gathright is the worst kind of guy to face in the situation -- fastest guy in the league, on a tear (he entered the game batting .363) and left-handed.
Jenks went up 0-2 on Gathright, although he slashed the second pitch just a couple feet fair of the left-field foul line for strike two. Then Jenks tried to put the hammer down, but left all three curves he threw up in the zone. Gathright smacked one through the hole on the left side, denying Jenks No. 42 and foiling the Sox for a second time on the evening.
At least he shook it off, settled down and retired the next three hitters for the save, giving the Sox a share of fourth place and capping off a comeback sparked by the rookies.
Down 3-2 in the seventh inning, former Sox reliever David Riske entered the game. Danny Richar must have been glad to see him after striking out twice against Gil Meche, because he led off the inning by turning on a fastball and drilling it into the bullpen for his second career homer.
Jerry Owens followed with a single and stole second. Josh Fields then drove him in with an opposite-field single over the head of Mark Grudzielanek. It was the kind of compact swing Fields should use more often, especially with two strikes.
Before the kids turned the game around, it had all the makings of a Sox loss. Scott Podsednik gave Mark Buehrle a lead in the fifth inning when he hit a two-run homer off Meche, his second of the season, but Buehrle gave it right back. He labored through 5 1/3 innings, and Ozzie Guillen was right to pull him when he did.
Grudzielanek led the inning off with a double, a drive which Owens nearly caught until he slid into the wall. Billy Butler just missed hitting one out to center, but Emil Brown turned around and crushed one to left to tie the ballgame. Alex Gordon turned on an inside-fastball for a bloop double down the right-field line, and that was Buehrle's night.
Ehren Wassermann came in and got a grounder to short, but it was too weak -- and Tony Pena Jr. too fast -- to turn two. Matt Thornton came in to face Gathright, but he placed a grounder in nearly the same spot that ended Jenks' streak to give the Royals the lead.
Thornton rebounded, and although Ozzie went matchup crazy with Ryan Bukvich, Boone Logan and Mike MacDougal before Jenks closed it out, they got the job done. These nights will only get longer when Mike Myers arrives in Chicago.
Record: 55-69 |
Box score |
Play-by-play