May 26: White Sox 5, Indians 4
It seems that Joe West had something in mind for Mark Buehrle, unbeknownst to the White Sox.
With two outs in the second, West called a balk on Mark Buehrle after he picked off Matt LaPorta, and then made a show of dismissing Buehrle when asked for a clarification. That made Ozzie Guillen charge out of the dugout, and West gave him similarly dismissive gestures. When Guillen didn’t oblige, West tossed him.
An inning later, West also tossed Buehrle after calling yet another balk. Buehrle took off his mitt and flung it off his hand in frustration, and after showing up Buehrle and Guillen, West didn’t care for reciprocal treatment.
That put the Sox in a huge hole, losing their starter after 2 1/3 innings with a runner in scoring position and one out. Randy Williams got out of the jam with a 4-6-3 double play, and Tony Pena took it from there.
The Sox risked losing a 3-0 lead they built in the top of the fourth. Paul Konerko delivered an RBI single, and after Carlos Quentin struck out with runners on second and third and two outs, Mark Teahen picked him up with a two-run single to left-center.
Williams almost gave it right back, allowing a single and a double to the first two batters he faced. Pena limited the damage to a sac fly, and that marked the start of four outstanding innings He needed only 54 pitches, allowing just three baserunners while striking out three, giving the bullpen a massive boost.
And Bobby Jenks almost wasted it.
Jenks had a four-run cushion thanks to a two-run Mark Kotsay homer, and he should have blown it. He allowed the first five batters to reach, including a brutal walk of Travis Hafner after Jenks got ahead 0-2. He didn’t get an out until Manny Acta called on Trevor Crowe to bunt over runners to second and third, putting the tying run 90 feet away with nobody out.
That sac bunt was a good percentage play, but maybe it gave Jenks the momentum he needed. He walked Shin-Soo Choo intentionally, struck out Austin Kearns and got Russell Branyan to fly out to end the game.
Record: 20-26 | Box score | Play-by-play
