Ken Harrelson was gone from Comiskey Park Saturday, but he was not forgotten by pitcher Jose DeLeon, who will be forever grateful for the trade that brought him to the White Sox.
Harrelson, who announced his resignation Friday as the Sox`s executive vice president of baseball operations, traded Bobby Bonilla to Pittsburgh for DeLeon on July 24.
”They gave me new life, a new future. Now I know I have a chance to pitch for a while in the big leagues,” said DeLeon, the winning pitcher in a 5-2 victory over Minnesota in the first game of a double-header.
The Sox won the second game 4-3 on Ozzie Guillen`s two-out single in the ninth. Reliever Dave Schmidt picked up the victory.
Harrelson was lying low Saturday while the Sox swept a double-header for the first time since September of 1983. So were owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn, who have yet to meet with the media to discuss Harrelson`s departure.
But some of Harrelson`s handiwork was present. The former Sox executive has said he`s most proud of the pitching staff he helped put together this year, and that includes righty DeLeon, who was one out away from pitching a shutout when Kirby Puckett ruined it with a two-out, two-run homer.
”I threw him curve, curve, curve, and he kept missing,” said DeLeon.
”Then I hung one up, and he hit it. That`s the way it goes.”
DeLeon didn`t complain about losing the shutout, and he wasn`t devastated when his no-hitter was broken up in the sixth by Jeff Reed`s single.
What mattered most was the victory, which ended a five-game Sox losing streak, and the complete game, DeLeon`s first since Sept. 3, 1985.
”Nine innings pitched, that`s what mattered,” said DeLeon, who improved his record to 4-5. ”I don`t know how long it`s been since I pitched nine innings.”
Neal Heaton pitched a complete game and took the loss for the Twins.
DeLeon almost didn`t make it all the way. Manager Jim Fregosi was going to pull him in the ninth had one more batter reached base. He entered the ninth with a two-hitter and a 5-0 lead. But after he gave up his only walk of the game to Alvis Woods, Puckett hit his 29th home run of the year. DeLeon ended the game by making Gary Gaetti his 10th strikeout victim of the day.
DeLeon has had control problems in the past, and the Sox haven`t been supporting him with many runs. But he says the Sox coaches have been working to change his mechanics, getting him to stop overthrowing and start taking it easier, and he`s seeing improvement.
”He stayed within his mechanics much better,” said Fregosi. ”But he`s pitched well for us all year. His record is no indication of how he`s pitched. I thought he tired a little bit in the ninth, but he got his first complete game since he`s been with us.”
The Sox scored four runs in the third, with Harold Baines and Ron Hassey each driving in one run, followed by Jerry Hairston`s two-run home run.
(Hairston also hit a solo shot in the second game.) The Sox added a final run in the eighth when Kenny Williams led off with a solo home run, his first in the major leagues.
Richard Dotson started the second game and had a two-hit shutout going through seven innings. He ran into trouble in the eighth, when he left the game with nine strikeouts and one walk, and was charged with two earned runs. Gaetti`s leadoff home run in the ninth off Bobby Thigpen tied the game at 3-3. It took Guillen`s game-winning single with two outs in the ninth to give the Sox the victory.
”The pitching was awfully good,” said Fregosi of his staff`s long day`s work. ”Dotson pitched a great game.
