The White Sox ran themselves out of a game Thursday night.
They came up short at the plate twice in the ninth inning and lost 5-4 to the Yankees.
The Sox scored a run in the ninth to cut New York`s lead to one and had runners on second and third with nobody out. Pinch-hitter Carlton Fisk then tapped back to reliever Dave Righetti, who threw to catcher Ron Hassey to nail Bobby Bonilla. That was mistake No. 1.
”Bonilla had no business going on the play,” said Sox manager Jim Fregosi.
John Cangelosi then lifted a fly to Dave Winfield in short right. Pinch-runner Wayne Tolleson ignored third-base coach Doug Rader`s stop sign and headed home.
Center-fielder Rickey Henderson yelled, ”He`s tagging, he`s tagging,”
and Winfield, who owns one of the best arms in baseball, delivered a strike to Hassey to nail Tolleson.
”I guess Rickey didn`t think I`d be ready to throw home,” Winfield said. ”But I knew he was going. You have to take a chance in that situation. Maybe my throw is off-line and he scores.”
”I told him (Tolleson) to stop,” said Rader. ”I put my hand up. I held him up. Evidently I didn`t do a good job.”
Tolleson, however, said he had been instructed to run
”He (Rader) told me to tag. You do what you`re told in that situation,” Tolleson said. ”He was calling for me to tag all the way.”
”I don`t know where he was going,” Fregosi said. ”It was a bad way to lose a baseball game. Dumb baseball.”
Greg Walker had opened the ninth with a single off starter Dennis Rasmussen, and Yankee manager Lou Piniella brought in bullpen ace Righetti.
Bonilla touched Righetti for a single, and pinch-hitter Jerry Hairston followed with a double, scoring Walker and setting up the big chance that fizzled.
Righetti wound up with his 20th save, and Rasmussen (11-2) gained his sixth straight victory. Loser Richard Dotson (7-9) gave up all the Yankee runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Rasmussen retired the Sox easily in the first. Cangelosi flied to center, and Ozzie Guillen and Harold Baines grounded out.
The Yankees jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the innning and, as usual, Henderson was behind it. He led off with a single, advanced to second on Don Mattingly`s one-out grounder to Guillen and came home with his 84th run of the season on Mike Easler`s single.
Ron Kittle drew a walk to open the Sox second. But he was erased when Walker hit into an inning-ending double play.
The Yankees took a 3-0 lead off Dotson in the second. He issued a leadoff walk to Winfield, and Mike Pagliarulo followed with a line single to left. The Sox infield then came in anticipating a bunt from Willie Randolph. But the veteran crossed them up, sending a single to right to score Winfield.
Pagliarulo advanced to third on the play and scored on Paul Zuvella`s squeeze bunt. Zuvella entered the game with only one hit in 32 at-bats since being acquired from Atlanta.
The Sox got a run back in the third, but they wasted an opportunity for more. Bonilla, who was raised near Yankee Stadium, led off with a double, and Joel Skinner walked with one out.
Cangelosi doubled to score Bonilla. But with runners on second and third, Guillen popped to shortstop. Rasmussen got out of the jam by getting Baines on a fly to left.
Two hits brought Yankee fans to their feet in the fifth. Zuvella lined a double to right to open the inning. The crowd responded with a standing ovation.
But they booed Zuvella when he got caught off second on Henderson`s grounder back to the mound. Then Mattingly cracked a 2-2 pitch off the facade of the upper deck in right for a two-run homer and a 5-1 lead.
Tim Hulett got those two runs back in the sixth, making it 5-3 with a towering homer to left-center on an 0-2 pitch.
