It may have been a little late to mean much and a little short to count much as revenge, but after four World Series and two interleague losses, the Houston Astros finally beat the White Sox on Sunday night.
It took them 13 innings, 4 1/2 hours and surviving an eight-run comeback by the Sox–seven of them coming on a pair of home runs by Tadahito Iguchi in the eighth and ninth innings–for the Astros to finally put an end to it, 10-9.
With the Sox down to just one position player and one pitcher because of suspensions and a hamstring injury to Pablo Ozuna, Houston punched home a run off Brandon McCarthy as the Sox’s nine-game winning streak came to an end.
The Astros also survived a historic feat for the Sox: Hitting grand slams in three consecutive games for the first time in their history as Iguchi followed Joe Crede and Scott Podsednik. It was the first time it has happened in the major leagues since Detroit in 1993.
Iguchi’s seven RBIs were a career high.
“I am really unhappy in the end that we lost but happy that we were able to create a comeback,” Iguchi said.
“I just call him Sadaharu Oh (the Japanese home run king), a great game for him,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “The enthusiasm in the ballpark was great. It was a great lift for the ballclub.”
But the lift stopped there, as the Sox went scoreless for the final four innings.
What the loss really did was keep the National League Central from being completely embarrassed by its AL counterparts. The Sox had won eight straight against Cincinnati, St. Louis and Houston. After a day off, the Sox get to dig in against the dregs of the NL Central–Pittsburgh and the Cubs.
“We don’t want to [underestimate] two teams that are under .500 and lose five out of six,” said Paul Konerko, whose 222nd homer moved him past Harold Baines into second on the Sox’s all-time list. “You should always worry about the teams that aren’t the notable ones.”
The loss, before a sometimes-wet sellout crowd of 38,516, also left the Sox 1 1/2 games behind high-flying Detroit in the AL Central, even though they are only two wins behind last year’s playoff pace and have the second-best record in baseball.
Sox starter Javier Vazquez had won four of his last five decisions but had trouble from the start Sunday, allowing two runs in the first inning and then four more in the fifth on two-run homers by Mike Lamb and Lance Berkman.
After Vazquez gave up another run in the seventh and allowed two more baserunners, Guillen had seen enough. The other two also scored off reliever Agustin Montero.
Unlike Game 3 of the World Series last fall, Houston starter Roy Oswalt had a super Sunday, leaving with a 9-2 lead after seven innings.
But after Oswalt left, the Sox greeted Russ Springer with three runs on singles by Alex Cintron and Podsednik and Iguchi’s first homer of the night.
In the next inning, with Brad Lidge on the mound, Iguchi unloaded the bases after A.J. Pierzynski and Cintron singled and Podsednik walked.
The Sox are 10-2 against the NL, as are Detroit and Minnesota. No NL Central team has a winning record against the AL.
“If anyone in the National League wants to switch places with us, I’m all for it,” general manager Ken Williams said.
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Grand tradition
The Sox have hit a grand slam in their last four games vs. Houston at U.S. Cellular Field, dating to Game 2 of the World Series:
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DT HITTER PITCHER INN
J25 Tadahito Iguchi Brad Lidge 9th
J24 Joe Crede Chad Qualls 7th
J23 Scott Podsednik Andy Pettitte 4th
O23 Paul Konerko Chad Qualls 7th
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Marathon men
The stakes were hardly the same, but Sunday night’s Astros-White Sox game was reminiscent of their Game 3 epic in the World Series in Houston. A quick look:
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CATEGORY SUN GAME 3
Innings 13 14
Time 4:25 5:41
Total runs 19 12
Total hits 28 22
Pitchers used 12 17
Position players 22 24
Winning hit Single Homer
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dvandyck@tribune.com
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