Over the last three days, the White Sox have faced a trio of the American League’s best and the brightest pitchers.
Veterans Dennis Martinez, Jack McDowell and David Cone are wily enough to tame opposing hitters even without their best stuff. And when they’re on, it’s lights out.
Martinez and McDowell managed to stick it to the Sox in the first two games of the 6-game road trip, and Thursday night it was Cone’s turn to outsmart the Sox.
New York’s ace right-hander was brilliant in the Yankees 5-1 victory over the Sox, shutting them down on five singles in his first start since suffering a serious hand injury.
A lively crowd of 19,773 at Yankee Stadium, most of whom gleefully booed former Bronx bust Danny Tartabull, saw their Yankees move two games ahead of Baltimore in the American League East. The Sox lost their third straight game, after making some headway on Cleveland with a seven-game win streak.
Alex Fernandez was done in by the longball, and saw his own three-game win streak snapped. Fernandez (4-2) allowed five runs on seven hits in 7 1/3 innings, including two home runs to Ruben Sierra and one apiece to Jim Leyritz and Paul O’Neill. While Sierra’s second homer hit the leftfield foul pole and O’Neill’s homer barely made it over the 314-foot sign down the right field line, both counted just the same.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that with Alex,” said manager Terry Bevington. “He was never in any trouble at all. They never got a runner to second base. Other than the home runs, he pitched outstanding. But you give up four home runs. . . .”
Fernandez thought three of the homers were real cheapos.
“Those home runs are jokes,” he said.
Because of the ballpark?
“What do you think?” he replied. “One (should’ve been) a double and the other two were flyballs. The only legitimate one was Ruben’s first home run. I’m not trying to take anything away from anybody. It’s part of this ballpark.”
The Sox may have the best pitching in the American League, but consistent hitting from several key regulars is still missing. They began the day ranked eleventh out of the 14 American League teams in runs scored, and were second-to-last in men left on base.
Cone (4-1) hadn’t made a start since May 22 in Kansas City, when he left after five innings because he had trouble gripping the ball. Cone was admitted to a Manhattan hospital last weekend, after losing feeling in his right palm and the tip of his ring finger.
The missed start was his first in nine years, and Cone is currently on blood-thinning medication for a circulatory problem in the hand. He admitted being scared about the possibility that the problem could be career-threatening.
“Professionally, there’s just so much uncertainty,” Cone said. “If you have an elbow injury or an arm injury, you can get treatment on it and work on it. The only thing I can do is take blood thinners, and it takes a long time to work. I just don’t know where I stand until I get out there in the game. That’s the most frustrating thing.”
