Danny Darwin has given the White Sox something they didn’t have last season–a decent No. 5 starter.
But there has been only one problem with the 41-year-old pitcher’s performance: The Sox aren’t giving him any runs.
Darwin’s second straight solid outing was ruined Thursday night as Baltimore’s Mike Mussina yielded only three hits in eight innings in the Orioles’ 1-0 victory before 14,674 at Comiskey Park.
Darwin (0-1), signed as a free agent during the off-season, scattered nine hits and struck out four. In his last start, he gave up one run on four hits in six innings against Detroit but didn’t figure in the decision, a 4-2 loss.
“You saw Darwin pitch an outstanding game,” Sox manager Terry Bevington said. “But Mussina pitched even better.”
Mussina (2-1) struck out six before Randy Myers relieved him to start the ninth. A 19-game winner in each of the last two seasons, Mussina is 6-6 with a 5.49 earned-run average lifetime against the Sox.
He dominated them Thursday night, giving up an infield hit to Chris Snopek in the second and a bloop double to Ozzie Guillen in the third before retiring 11 straight hitters. Albert Belle broke the drought with a one-out single in the seventh, but he was doubled up when Harold Baines hit a line drive at shortstop Mike Bordick.
Frank Thomas, who entered hitting .556 with six homers and 11 RBIs lifetime against Mussina, was 0 for 4 and flied out to end the game with Tony Phillips on first.
Is Bevington concerned about Thomas’ slow start (.255)?
“It’s hard to be concerned about Frank after what he’s done for the past six years,” he said. “It’s like saying you’re concerned with Michael Jordan if he scores 12 points.
“If we have a concern about Frank, then we would be in big trouble.”
