This year, nothing stops Robin Ventura.
Not injury. Not controversy. And certainly not Paul Spoljaric and Bobby Ayala.
Ventura reminds the White Sox daily that baseball can still be fun, even in the highest tax brackets. He showed them on Saturday why they don’t have to finish the season as lifeless punching bags. After all, if Albert Belle can bunt for a hit, is there no mountain too high to climb?
After Belle’s bunt shocked the Seattle Mariners, Ventura finished them off. His two-run double off Spoljaric in the seventh inning and two-run homer off Ayala in the ninth carried the Sox to a 5-2 victory. It was a startling ending, given Mariners right-hander Ken Cloude carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his big-league debut.
“It ended up being a good game,” Ventura said. “That’s the stuff that gets it rolling. Hopefully this does.”
James Baldwin (8-12) struck out 10 in 7 1/3 innings as the Sox moved within four games of the lurching Cleveland Indians. They raised their record to 3-6 on the road trip, which ends Sunday, and to 55-59 overall.
Ventura’s four-RBI day helped the Sox score as many as five runs for only the second time in the last 13 games.
Belle made the perfect bunt off Cloude (0-1), then beat out third baseman Russ Davis’ throw. Ventura followed with a double into the corner against the left-handed Spoljaric, giving Chicago a 2-1 lead. In the ninth, he gave closer Matt Karchner a three-run margin by following a Belle walk with a blast.
After missing four months with a broken leg and torn ligaments in his right ankle, Ventura is batting .348 with three homers and nine RBIs in 13 games. He has played errorless afield. All while coping with uncertainty regarding his future.
“He’s never been a slow starter,” Frank Thomas said. “He’s always been a guy who comes out banging.”
