Danny Tartabull unexpectedly took Roger Clemens downtown Saturday night, and for a while it looked like this was going to be a joy ride for the White Sox and their 28,219 fellow travelers in Comiskey Park.
But in the ninth inning the joy ride turned into a harrowing experience, and it took an outstanding defensive play by Dave Martinez to enable the White Sox to escape with a 4-3 victory.
Boston scored two runs in the top of the ninth and had runners on first and third when Jeff Frye slashed a line drive down the right-field line.
“Where I was standing it looked like an inside-the-park homer if he doesn’t get it,” said relief pitcher Roberto Hernandez.
But Martinez made the catch in fair territory to end the game.
“When I took off I didn’t know if I was going to catch it,” said Martinez. “I played more toward the line because I had a gut feeling he would hit a fastball or a breaking ball to the opposite field.”
According to Hernandez, the pitch that Frye hit was an outside fastball. Clemens wasn’t so fortunate when he fired a fastball to Tartabull in the second inning.
Tartabull went into the game with a career average of .160 in 50 at bats against the Red Sox ace. But this pitch was in his sweet spot and he drove it 391 feet into the left-field bleachers, scoring Robin Ventura ahead of him and giving the White Sox the game’s first two runs.
In winning for the seventh time in their last nine games, the White Sox stayed one game ahead of Baltimore in the American League wild-card race and moved 3 1/2 games in front of the Red Sox.
Starting pitcher Alex Fernandez (13-9) was the winner. In his 7 2/3 innings on the mound, Fernandez gave up five hits and one run, which came on Reggie Jefferson’s fourth inning homer.
