Tonight’s victory was as easy as 3-4-5.
Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye all homered as the Sox rocked Oakland starter Kirk Saarloos and continued to tear into the soft A’s bullpen. They combined to go 5-for-9 with five RBI and six walks on the night.
It didn’t take long for them to get into gear. Scott Podsednik got it started by walking, advancing to second on Alex Cintron’s ground ball, stealing third and scoring on Jason Kendall’s errant attempt to throw him out. Thome walked, Konerko homered, and Dye made it back-to-back to give the Sox a lightning-quick 4-0 lead. Thome then homered to complete the set, and it was 5-0 Sox.
Javier Vazquez didn’t make it feel safe, however. He allowed yet another big inning – and there were no errors to blame it on – when nine Athletics hitters came to the plate in the third. He only managed to allow three runs, thankfully, all of them coming on an Eric Chavez homer. It could’ve been worse considering he left the bases loaded. Dan Johnson, batting .179, grounded out to second to end the threat.
Vazquez walked four guys, something he only did twice in 33 starts last year, and labored through six. He really had trouble putting hitters away, most likely due to a combination of 1) a smaller-than-usual strike zone and 2) that pesky Oakland lineup. The good news is that he didn’t allow a run after that troublesome third inning, and scratched through six without allowing another run. Neither did the bullpen, which featured the
Sox debut of Jeff Nelson. He pitched to two batters, retiring one and walking the other.
More good news came when the Sox added four more runs without having to go deep for any of them. Thome blasted a double through the shift for one run, and A.J. Pierzynski and Joe Crede added a pair of RBI singles to make it a six-run ballgame. We may think our bullpen has problems, but they’re nothing compared to the ones Oakland has.
After a big night in the first game of the series, Frank Thomas had a quieter outing tonight. The Big Hurt went 0-for-1 with three walks, but didn’t score on any of them.
Record: 30-15 |
Box score |
Play-by-play