In the early going, Floyd attempted to be rivaling Danny Wright for
the ugliest no-hit bid in recent Sox history. Not only did he walk batters, but he walked leadoff batters, and he walked them when he was ahead 0-2.
He also couldn't hold runners. Clete Thomas and Gary Sheffield both went on first movement, and both were easily safe. Brandon Inge would've had one as well, but he didn't trust his outstanding jumps.
Fortunately, the defense kept giving Floyd a reason to trust it. Joe Crede had a couple terrific plays in the first two innings, throwing out Thomas at the plate when he ran on contact in the first, then made a diving snare to his left, popped up and threw out Miguel Cabrera in the second.
Floyd also had double plays as a friend to clean up the walks:
- A 6-4-3 from Placido Polanco after Floyd walked the first two hitters in the third.
- A 5-4-3 from Magglio Ordonez after Floyd walked leadoff man Sheffield in the fourth. Juan Uribe made a beautiful turn on an awkward (but quality) feed from Crede.
Eventually, Floyd stopped nibbling and took matters into his own hands. He had all four pitches working after that second double play -- he froze Miguel Cabrera with an awesome inside corner curveball, then got Ordonez and Jacque Jones to swing through changeups.
Unfortunately, Jones would be the last batter Floyd retired on the day. Edgar Renteria came up and dropped an opposite-field single between Nick Swisher and Jermaine Dye to end Floyd's no-hit bid at 7 1/3 innings. It also ended his day, as he was at 107 pitches and about to face the Tigers lineup a fourth time through in a one-run game.
Scott Linebrink picked up where Floyd left off. On his second pitch to Ivan Rodriguez, he snagged a chopper hit right back at him and started a 1-6-3 double play to keep Floyd's line intact.
After Floyd left, the question was whether he'd get the win for his efforts, as Orlando Cabrera's solo homer -- his first in a Sox uniform -- was the only support he'd received, and A.J. Pierzynski's double was the only other hit off Justin Verlander...
...until the eighth. Once again Verlander saw his ERA take a hit after he left a ballgame, though he was to blame for most of it. He walked Nick Swisher with one out, hit Orlando Cabrera in the head (he was OK) and gave up a hard line-drive single to Jim Thome to load the bases.
Verlander had Konerko down 0-2, but Konerko took a page from the Carlos Quentin playbook and let a fastball clip his jersey to drive in a run. Jermaine Dye nearly popped into a double play, but Polanco didn't see Konerko far off first base when he caught it with his back to first, and threw it home instead.
The Sox took advantage of that second chance. Pierzynski stroked a two-run single to right-center, Quentin hammered a single through the left hand side to make it 5-0, and after a walk to Crede, Uribe drove the final nail in the coffin with a two-run single through the right side.
Record: 6-4 |
Box score |
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