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AARON ROWAND |
THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
The Red Sox rally, but fall short in the ninth
August 13, 2004 ...
The Chicago White Sox landed a few serious shots of their own, thumping homer-vulnerable Tim Wakefield for two more long balls in bringing a sad, soggy end to Boston's three-game winning streak.
Chicago's Aaron Rowand struck both blows off Wakefield, including a decisive shot amid a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning, propelling the White Sox to an 8-7 victory before a rain-soaked 35,028 at Fenway Park. Chicago ended a run in which the Sox had won nine of their previous 10 games on
Friday the 13th.
A last-gasp rally, capped by a two-run homer by Millar with one out in the ninth inning, fell excruciatingly short. Wakefield remained a victim of his fickle knuckler, which has sustained him for 12 years in the bigs but has occasionally deserted him in crushing fashion. With Rowand's two
blasts, Wakefield has surrendered 14 home runs in 35 1/ 3 innings over his last six outings, one of the worst home run binges of his career. The Sox were unable to recover after Wakefield allowed six runs on six hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings in dropping to 8-7 with a 4.67 ERA.
The bullpen also did Wakefield no favors. After the knuckleballer departed trailing, 5-4, with one out and a runner on second base in the seventh inning, Mike Timlin lasted long enough to walk Joe Crede before Alan Embree faced two batters, including Juan Uribe, who pinch hit for Roberto
Alomar and stroked a double, allowing the runner Wakefield left behind to score.
Before Millar's shot in the ninth, the resurgent Red Sox offense waged mighty efforts to bail out the pitching staff in both the seventh and eighth innings.
Before Rowand's second blast off Wakefield, Ramirez interrupted his slump - he was batting .203 (15 for 74) over the last 19 games - to launch his shot leading off the fifth after Wakefield was unable to hold a 3-2 lead in the fourth. The homer was Ramirez's 29th of the season and 376th of
his career, tying him with Carlton Fisk for 54th place on baseball's all-time list. Ramirez slugged a 91-mile-per-hour fastball into the bleachers in dead center for the homer after Contreras struck him out on splitters in his first two at-bats. The second strikeout was pivotal because it
left the bases loaded after the Sox touched Contreras for two runs in the second inning.
Contreras won for the first time in six career starts against the Sox as he improved to 1-4 against them with a 13.50 ERA.
Wakefield was less fortunate. Rowand also knocked in a run on an infield single against him in the second inning and torched him for a two-run homer in the fourth. Wakefield has surrendered 22 home runs this season to rank among the league leaders, but he surrendered 38 homers in 1996 and
managed to go 14-13. Home runs have become part of his life, not that he cares to accept it. |
