April 5: White Sox 6, Indians 0

Posted by Jim Margalus on April 5th, 2010 | 3 comments

Mark Buehrle may  have set a franchise record with his eighth Opening Day start, but he pitched like he had something to prove.

In the process, he made what might be the defensive play of the season.

Given an early lead on a first-inning Paul Konerko homer, Buehrle tossed seven mostly drama free inning, possibly throwing more changeups to left-handed hitters than he did all of last year.  It worked.  He got some ugly swings from the Indians’ top left-handed threats — Travis Hafner gave up in the middle of one — and was able to pump his 84 m.p.h. fastball up and away, too.

He allowed just three weak singles and a walk, striking out three hitters and working around a botched double play by Gordon Beckham and Alexei Ramirez, with Beckham providing a bad feed and Ramirez throwing wide after spinning out of the way to avoid the dreaded contact.

There was only one thing that could overshadow Buehrle’s pitching — Buehrle’s defense.

With one out in the fifth, Lou Marson hit a grounder through the middle.  Buehrle kicked out his leg, and deflected it on the other side of the first base line.  He sprinted after it, and with his back to first, scooped it between his legs with his glove and flipped it to Konerko, who caught it with his bare hand as Buehrle tumbled toward the Cleveland dugout.

Trainers came to check on Buehrle, but he stayed in the game and ended up retiring the last 10 batters he faced.

The Sox offense added to the lead with a lot of help from the battery of Marson and Jake Westbrook, who struggled with his control in his first start since May 28, 2008.  He walked four over four innings, but wild pitches and HBPs were the bigger issue, and the 2-3-4 section of the Chicago lineup didn’t let him off the hook.

Gordon Beckham led off a rally in the third with a one-out single up the middle, and Westbrook complicated matters by grazing Quentin’s knee with a sinker and walking Konerko.  Mark Kotsay almost bailed him out when he hit a grounder to second, but Konerko ran like the wind and affected Asdrubal Cabrera’s throw, which pulled Matt LaPorta off the bag to bring a run home.

Another Westbrook wild pitch allowed Quentin to score for a 4-0 lead.

The fifth inning looked a lot like the third. Beckham doubled, Quentin took a pitch to the elbow and Konerko walked once more to load the bases with nobody out.  This time, however, Kotsay grounded into the double play, and the Sox could only get one run out of it.

Alex Rios added a homer, and then closed out the game with a terrific diving catch.  Strangely enough, it was almost disappointing, because Thornton had struck out the first two batters on six pitches, and had Hafner down 0-2.  Hafner barely fouled off the ninth pitch, spoiling the perfect inning, and then lined Thornton’s 10th fastball to the gap.  Rios took a great route and made a full-extension grab, bringing an exciting end to a perfect Opening Day.

Record: 1-0 | Box score | Play-by-play

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Comments

  1. On April 05, 2010 cushinglee says:

    I was there–had to park at McCormick Center (!!???).

  2. On April 05, 2010 duke says:

    Only saw the highlights but Quentin looked alright running in on the wild pitch.

  3. On April 05, 2010 Jim Margalus says:

    Yup. He was tested multiple times. That wild pitch, legging out a double, a weak pop-up in foul territory…

    He needed extra treatment after the game, but only because of the two HBPs. Knock on wood.

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