Seeking some momentum on the eve of his team`s biggest series of the season, White Sox manager Jeff Torborg called on ”Gumby” Sunday night to ride to the rescue.
Rookie left-hander Wayne Edwards, who answers to that nickname because of a most malleable body, came up the winner in his second major-league start, as the Sox beat Texas 4-2 to pull within 6 1/2 games of division-leading Oakland. Now comes what figures to be a make-or-break showdown with the A`s in Comiskey Park, and Torborg feels the Sox are good and ready for the defending world champs.
Pennant race? Pressure? Torborg will have none of that talk.
”Never having been there before, I don`t think they understand or care about pressure,” he said. ”We can`t think about all that`s going on. We have to think about facing Dave Stewart.”
The victory was the Sox`s 69th of the season, matching last year`s victory total with 44 games remaining. More importantly, it was the first time the Sox gained ground on the A`s in nine days.
Carlos Martinez`s leadoff triple off Jamie Moyer (1-5) in the second inning started the Sox on the right foot. Martinez scored on a sacrifice fly by Ron Karkovice to give the Sox a 1-0 lead.
They added a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Ozzie Guillen with the bases loaded, but Texas cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning on an RBI-single by Steve Buechele.
With two on and only one out, Edwards (2-2) bore down on the next two batters, striking out Gary Green and Gary Pettis to escape more harm.
Making only his second start, and his first since beating Texas at Comiskey Park on Aug. 10, Edwards tired in the sixth. He was removed by Torborg after walking Pete Incaviglia on four pitches.
”I pitched myself out of a lot of jams,” said Edwards, who walked four and allowed five hits in five innings. ”There was a lot of luck involved, and some good plays kept us in it. Nothing fancy.”
The Sox bullpen came on to save the day. Donn Pall, Ken Patterson, Barry Jones and Bobby Thigpen shut down the Rangers on one run (an eighth-inning Rafael Palmeiro homer) and two hits the rest of the way. That homer came after Karkovice and Craig Grebeck each drove home an insurance run in the Sox eighth.
Thigpen recorded his league-leading 40th save, putting him on course for what would be a major-league record-breaking 51-save season (Dave Righetti holds the mark with 46). It was the sixth time in American League history that a reliever has recorded 40 or more saves.
”Getting to 40 is an accomplishment, but I`ve still got a ways to go,”
said Thigpen. ”At the end of the season, whether it be on October 3 or October 20, I`ll look back and enjoy the season that much more.”
Torborg hopes Sunday night`s victory will put a stop to the team`s sluggish offensive showing of late. In their 13 games since the five-game sweep of Milwaukee (not including Sunday), the Sox had hit a paltry .225 as a team and had averaged only 3.30 runs per game.
During the stretch, the Sox went 5-8 to fall well off Oakland`s pace in the AL West.
”We`re not getting much offense lately,” Torborg admitted before the game. ”So I`m going to try and give a little different look, a little different feel.”
That ”different look” included the insertion of the .217-hitting Martinez (two hits) at first and Grebeck (.145) at third. In addition, Torborg stuck with the struggling Bradley, who entered the game in an 0-for-20 drought. Bradley had two hits. Karkovice also subbed for Carlton Fisk behind the plate.
All four made their contributions.
”No one wants to go seven or eight games behind Oakland with one month left,” said Martinez. ”If that happens, no one`s going to catch them.”
The time is now. The Sox are ready.
”It`s gonna be wild,” said Thigpen. ”We`ll really be fired up with the big crowd.”
”As the season`s gone along, I haven`t been surprised about anything,”
said Torborg. ”These guys have scratched and clawed and played up to their potential more than any team I`ve ever been associated with.”
