July 3: Rangers 3, White Sox 1
Imagine Friday’s game without the comeback, and this is what you get.
The Sox couldn’t solve Tommy Hunter until he began to tire in the eighth, as he scattered eight singles over the first seven innings with no damage done while the Rangers gave him a 3-0 lead.
But his control started to fade, and the Sox seemed well positioned to take advantage of it. Not only did they start the inning with a walk and a single, but reliever Frank Francisco balked them both over with Alex Rios at the plate.
Rios drove in one run with a grounder to second that moved Alexei Ramirez to third. Paul Konerko couldn’t drive him in. Francisco threw him off completely with a first-pitch changeup, which caused him to be late on a second-pitch fastball, which caused him to be late on a third-pitch changeup for strike three. Andruw Jones flew out to left, and Ramirez was left standing at third.
That potential run came back to bite the Sox, because extra-base-hit-machine Brent Lillibridge, pinch-hitting for Mark Kotsay, led off with a double. He, too, would get to third on an A.J. Pierzynski groundout. He, too, wouldn’t get any further. Carlos Quentin struck out, and so did Gordon Beckham to end the game.
In the process, the Rangers defeated former farmhand John Danks, who struggled with his control, walking four batters over his six innings. Somehow, he limited the damage to two runs.
Tony Pena let in the third. He faced two batters, and allowed two singles. Erick Threets cleaned up his mess rather well, getting a double play and groundout to kill the threat, but that third run hurt.
Another thing that hurt: Andruw Jones. He struck out in his first two at-bats, and then hit into a 5-4-3 double play that was part of a three-pitch inning for Hunter. Embarrassing.
Record: 41-38 | Box score | Play-by-play
