The White Sox discovered a new relief pitcher Thursday in right-hander Dave Wehrmeister and assured themselves of having an old one, Bob James, healthy and strong again.
James saved the Sox`s 7-6 victory over Boston for Wehrmeister in the first game of a double-header at Comiskey Park.
Boston rebounded to win the nightcap 6-1.
Britt Burns, who started in the opener, and Game 2 loser Gene Nelson
(7-6) lasted only 5 1/3 innings.
Nelson was removed with a runner on base, who scored when Wade Boggs singled against left-hander Juan Agosto to give the Red Sox a 5-1 lead.
It was Boggs` third RBI in the second game. He had a RBI single in the first and homered in the fifth. Catcher Rich Gedman knocked in two runs with a homer and double off Nelson.
Ex-Chicago pitcher Tim Lollar (5-6) started for Boston and held his ex-mates to a run. He needed relief help in the sixth inning and got it from Steve Crawford to raise his record with the Red Sox to 2-1.
Ron Kittle scored on Greg Walker`s second-inning double after Lollar, who had seen Kittle hit two homers in the opener, had walked him. Kittle came alive Thursday, going 5-for-6 with two walks in the two games.
In the opener, James displayed the same dominance he showed earlier in the year.
”I have no more doubts about my knee after today,” said James, who had cartilage flushed out July 18 and hadn`t recorded a save since July 2.
”Before today, I had doubts. But they are erased now.
”This was my third time out there since coming off the disabled list and, the first two times, my knee was puffy the next day. But it`s definitely stronger and I have to expect some puffiness. Today, my mechanics were much better than they`d been.”
After Wehrmeister was touched for a leadoff single in the ninth by Bill Buckner–the second hit off Wehrmeister in 2 1/3 innings–James retired three straight, two with strikeouts.
One was with a sharp curveball and the other with a fastball that ran in on Tony Armas.
James` time between saves was nothing compared to the date of Wehrmeister`s last major-league victory.
The La Grange native hadn`t won since April, 1978, when he edged Atlanta in relief for San Diego.
Wehrmeister, 32, has spent most of his time in the minors since he pitched four games for the Padres in 1978. He was on the New York Yankees for five games in 1981 and with Philadelphia last year for seven games.
Since entering pro ball in 1973, the Lyons Township graduate has spent just 112 days in the majors. He signed with the Sox at the beginning of the year as a minor-league free agent.
”It`s always hurt me to see the younger pitchers called up to the majors when I have felt I was doing well,” Wehrmeister said.
He was called up from Triple A Buffalo last Sunday, where he was 5-8 with a deceptive 5.77 earned-run average.
”The first six weeks there I couldn`t get anybody out and the last six weeks I pitched well,” he said. ”Mentally and physically I had no idea how to get out a hitter earlier this year.”
But he has faced some of the best hitters in the American League since his recall and has shown the ability to get them out.
Last Monday in New York, he retired Yankees` Rickey Henderson, Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield in order in his only inning.
Thursday he came in after Boston tied the score 6-6 with four runs in the sixth. With Red Sox runners at first and third, Jim Rice lined a shot against Wehrmeister into left.
In the minors, it might have been a hit. But Wehrmeister benefited from major-league fielding as Rudy Law made a diving catch.
Wehrmeister didn`t give his defense similar challenges in the eighth. After striking out Mike Easler and Dwight Evans, he got Boggs to lift a soft fly to Law.
The Sox`s bullpen will be important the next few weeks. In Thursday`s assignment, Burns showed the affects of throwing 150 and 154 pitches in two of his last three starts.
After retiring 11 of the first 12 Boston batters, the Red Sox touched Burns for two runs in the fourth and knocked him out in the sixth with two runners on and Chicago ahead 6-3.
”It`s very possible all those pitches he`d thrown in recent games caught up with him,” manager Tony LaRussa said. ”It`s what you worry about. He wasn`t himself. Give him a 6-2 lead and he`ll usually close out the game.”
Relievers Dan Spillner and Jerry Don Gleaton couldn`t stop the Red Sox from scoring three more runs after Burns was lifted and tying the score 6-6.
But thanks to Wehrmeister and James, the bullpen ended up on a positive note in the first game.
Offensively, Kittle led the way in the opener. He went 4-for-4 and homered twice, sending one ball onto the roof in left and another into the upper deck.
What LaRussa liked about both homers was that they came on a 2-2 count and a 3-2 count. ”He wasn`t going after the first cripple they threw up there,” LaRussa said.
