If Wednesday night was indeed Robin Ventura’s last home game in a White Sox uniform, it was hardly one to spend time relating to future generations.
The expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Sox 7-2 at Comiskey Park, scoring four runs in the decisive sixth inning. Three of the runs were unearned because of an error by third baseman Ventura, reportedly being offered as trade bait.
The crowd of 17,387 fans, some holding signs saying, “KEEP ROBIN,” gave Ventura an ovation when he batted in the eighth. He flied deep to center and received even louder cheers as he jogged to the dugout.
“If was nice,” Ventura said. “Nicest reception I’d had in a long time for a fly ball. I didn’t know what to do. So I did what I usually do after making out. Hung up my helmet and pouted.”
Said manager Jerry Manuel: “I’d like to see him in our lineup (Friday) against the Rangers. It was nice to see the crowd honor him like that.”
“Excitement” for the crowd was confined largely to Wil Cordero’s two-run homer that put the Sox ahead 2-1 in the fourth.
Lefty Jim Parque (2-4) was the losing pitcher, despite getting 12 of 15 outs on infield grounders in the first five innings.
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the third when leadoff man Randy Winn cracked his first major-league homer, a shot of 400-plus feet to center. Cordero put the Sox ahead when he homered in the fourth and scored behind Ventura, who had singled.
The Rays chased Parque in the four-run sixth when Bubba Trammell doubled home two runs and Miguel Cairo singled in the other two.
“I had some bad luck, but I made two bad pitches,” Parque said.
