The stage was set for a grand Opening Day party Friday at a packed Comiskey Park, but the White Sox decided to take a siesta at a most inopportune time.
Starter Jim Parque and reliever Antonio Osuna turned a four-run lead into a four-run deficit in the sixth inning as Detroit wound up spoiling the day with a 10-9, 10-inning victory before 43,854 shell-shocked fans.
“We didn’t see that coming,” Frank Thomas said. “No one saw that coming.”
The Tigers managed to turn a South Side swagger into a postgame sulk, winning their first game and sending the message they won’t be intimidated by the big, bad Sox.
Shane Halter’s run-scoring single off Keith Foulke in the 10th was the lethal blow, but the outcome was determined much earlier when the offense repeatedly failed in the clutch.
“We should have blown that game open,” manager Jerry Manuel said.
The Sox were cruising along with a 5-1 lead in the sixth, thanks in part to solo home runs by Ray Durham, Jose Valentin and Thomas hit off Dave Mlicki. But Parque and Osuna combined to give up eight runs in the inning, forcing the Sox to play comeback on a raw, chilly afternoon.
They managed to tie it with a three-run eighth, but Magglio Ordonez and Paul Konerko stranded the go-ahead run in scoring position, leading to the extra-inning loss.
“We definitely didn’t have the intensity we did the first couple of innings,” Konerko said. “We did that last year a lot. We have to make sure we play nine full innings. Last year we’d jump out to some leads and then hang on. With the weather being miserable, it’s easy to let up, but we have to make sure we don’t, if for no other reason than we’re professionals.”
Parque’s goal this season is to last longer into games, hoping to gain Manuel’s trust. But he once again ran out of gas with the four-run lead in the sixth. He was removed three batters into the inning after a leadoff single, Deivi Cruz’s two-run homer and Wendell Magee’s double.
Osuna, acquired from the Dodgers at the end of spring and handed a two-year contract extension, imploded in his Comiskey debut, leaving to a chorus of boos. The tide turned when Magee attempted to score from second on Brandon Inge’s single. Despite a perfect throw home from Carlos Lee, Magee was able to jar the ball out of Sandy Alomar Jr.’s glove.
With two men on and the Sox up 5-4, Konerko made a play on a hot grounder but had to eat it when Osuna was late covering first, allowing the tying run to score. After Manuel ordered an intentional walk to Bobby Higginson to load the bases, he left Osuna in to face the switch-hitting Clark. Batting left-handed, Clark belted a 3-2 change-up for a grand slam and a 9-5 Tigers lead.
“If I had held onto that ball, the grand slam wouldn’t have happened,” Alomar said.
Osuna gave up five runs in the inning and has a 21.00 earned-run average.
“Osuna has a history of being a good pitcher,” Manuel said. “Today it just didn’t happen for him. It’s obviously very early to pass judgment.”
Konerko’s run-scoring double in the seventh pulled the Sox to within three and it was 9-8 in the eighth with the bases loaded, no outs and the heart of the order up. Thomas’s sacrifice fly off Danny Patterson tied it, but Ordonez flied to right and Konerko struck out to end the inning.
“It looked like we were a little out of sync today,” Thomas said. “That’s what happens in cold weather.”
Foulke hit Billy McMillon with a pitch to start the 10th, and after a two-strike sacrifice, Halter singled home the winning run.
“Obviously we were not getting the job done,” Foulke said. “That’s what we get paid for.”
