One small step for Wilson Alvarez, another crushing defeat for the White Sox.
When Alvarez lost a footrace to first against Detroit`s Milt Cuyler by a split-second in the 13th inning Friday, many of the remaining fans in the crowd of 39,066 somehow sensed that the play would cost the Sox.
It did, indeed, and the Sox wound up losing 8-3 in 13 innings to run their losing streak to six games. The Sox have now gone 6-18 since May 25 and are much closer to last place than first in the American League West.
Alvarez (0-2) lost his second extra-inning decision in as many days, while Detroit reliever Walt Terrell (1-7) snapped a losing streak at 11 games, dating back to Sept. 11, 1991.
Rob Deer pounded a pair of long-distance home runs, including a 423-foot three-run shot in the 13th after Detroit had taken a 5-3 lead off of Alvarez and Donn Pall.
Alvarez came on at the top of the 13th with the game tied at 3-3 and induced Cuyler to hit a slow roller that Frank Thomas gloved some 15 feet off of the first base bag. Alvarez got off to a slow start toward the bag, and when he got the toss from Thomas, Cuyler was ruled safe by an eyelash for an infield hit.
”He should`ve been at first base,” said manager Gene Lamont of Alvarez. Tony Phillips, who led off the game four hours earlier with a home run off Greg Hibbard, then bunted one past Alvarez for another infield hit. Pall came on to relieve Alvarez and was greeted by RBI singles by Dan Gladden and Travis Fryman to put the Tigers up 5-3. One out later, Deer cranked his 21st home run well into the left-field stands to add insult to injury.
The Tigers hit four home runs on the night and watched four pitchers hold the Sox to nine hits (six singles) in 13 innings.
”I`m not getting frustrated,” said Lamont. ”I am frustrated. It`s not just me. All the fans are frustrated, the players are all frustrated, everyone`s frustrated.”
Despite the fact that the Sox were facing a 38-year-old junkballer with a hefty 6.02 ERA, they had good reason to fear Detroit starter Frank Tanana, who had spent much of his 20-year career making White Sox hitters look helpess.
Tanana entered the game with a 29-14 career record against the Sox, as opposed to a combined 196-199 record against everyone else. In his last nine starts against the Sox in Chicago, Tanana had an 8-0 record and 3.66 ERA.
”Who can explain it?” said Tanana. ”I pitched well in old Comiskey Park, and I`ve pitched well in my three starts here.”
Tanana gave up only two runs on four hits through seven innings but failed to hold a three-run lead and was replaced John Kiely after Frank Thomas homered to right-center while leading off the eighth to tie the game at 3-3.
Detroit had scored three runs on a trio of homers by Phillips, Deer and Cecil Fielder off of Hibbard, who settled down after the fourth inning.
The Tigers lead the majors with 90 homers, and with 21 Deer is only two behind Oakland`s Mark McGwire for the major-league lead.
While much has been made of McGwire`s pursuit of Roger Maris` mark, no one has mentioned Deer in the same breath,
”Just the way I like it,” Deer said. ”A lot of guys are hitting home runs this year, so I don`t think about it.”
Trailing 3-0, the Sox got on the board in the fourth when Thomas doubled and later scored on a wild pitch by Tanana. They added an unearned run in the fifth when right-fielder Phil Clark dropped a Tim Raines fly and hung his head as Esteban Beltre scored from first to make it a 3-2 game.
Craig Grebeck stranded two runners in scoring position in the seventh for the Sox, but Thomas led off the eighth with a home run to center that tied the game at 3-3 and sent in into extra innings.
