With one out in the home half of the third here Saturday night, it seemed that a perfect mix of brain and brawn was going to earn the Blue Jays a three-games-to-one lead over the White Sox in their American League playoff series.
That mix included a sound game plan and several patient, experienced, disciplined Blue Jay hitters.
True, the Jays led only 3-2. But Jason Bere, the 22-year-old Sox starter who finished the regular season with seven straight victories, was leaving the game, a victim of that potent mix.
The bases were loaded with only one out. It seemed to a celebrating SkyDome crowd of 51,889 that the Jays, who had the Sox on the ropes, could deliver the knockout against Gene Lamont’s bullpen staff.
That’s where the grand plan took a wrong turn, and the White Sox squared the series at two games apiece.
Tim Belcher, relegated to pitching Siberia as a long man, struck out Tony Fernandez and retired Ed Sprague on a grounder to hold the third-inning damage at three runs.
Then Belcher, Kirk McCaskill, Scott Radinsky and Roberto Hernandez combined to throttle the Jays on one run and four hits over the last 6 2/3 innings.
“They got a big lift from their bullpen,” said Jays designated hitter Paul Molitor. “Momentum’s been stolen from us. We had a big edge when we were up two games to none. Now, it’s a best of three series, and the last two are scheduled in Chicago.”
The Sox bullpen wasn’t alone in evening the series. Lance Johnson drove home four runs with a two-run second-inning homer and a two-run sixth-inning triple, both off loser Todd Stottlemyre.
Frank Thomas hit a solo homer to tie the game 3-3 in the sixth. Then Stottlemyre served two-out walks to Ellis Burks and Bo Jackson before Johnson knocked one just out of Devon White’s reach in deep center to make the score 5-3.
“What bothers me most is walking those two guys with two out,” said Stottlemyre. “Even little guys like Lance are strong enough to drive the ball when they get the good part of the bat on the ball.
“I tip my hat to him.”
Roberto Alomar, looking back to the time when the Jays shelled Bere, said, “I thought we were in good position then, but they turned it around. Lance Johnson made big hits, and their relievers did the job.”
