White Sox Almost Let Big Lead Get Away

Mike Sirotka finished his work and headed to the clubhouse after shutting down the New York Yankees for eight innings Sunday at Chicago.

The White Sox had an 8-1 lead when closer Keith Foulke came on to pitch the ninth and get some needed work.

But after Foulke hit leadoff batter Chuck Knoblauch, everything started to unravel, and the White Sox barely escaped with an 8-7 victory.

Derek Jeter, Felix Jose, Bernie Williams and Shane Spencer singled and then Ricky Ledee--who has been the subject of numerous trade rumors--hit a three-run, pinch-hit homer to make it 8-7 and finish Foulke.

Bobby Howry struck out Jose Vizcaino to end the game, earning his fourth save.

The White Sox finished with an 8-4 record against the Yankees, winning six of the final seven meetings with the defending World Series champions.

“I couldn’t finish the guys off when I needed to,” said Foulke, who gave up six runs in two-thirds of an inning after surrendering only nine earned runs in his previous 45 1/3.

“I had some bad pitch selection, didn’t put guys away and they just kept pecking away.”

Chicago’s Magglio Ordonez had a two-run triple in the first inning and then hit his 16th homer, a two-run shot in the eighth against Allen Watson that turned out to be crucial. In the three-game series, Ordonez was five for nine with six runs batted in and five walks.

Sirotka (7-6), winning for the fourth time in five decisions, gave up five singles, walked none and struck out five in eighth innings, retiring the final 11 batters he faced.

“There was nothing really for Mike to do going back out there,” White Sox Manager Jerry Manuel said. “He did what was asked of him, which was to get us to the bullpen. Foulke had a rough day, but fortunately we’ve got Howry and other guys who can go out and close games for us.”

New York’s Andy Pettitte (7-4), who is 5-2 in his last seven starts with both losses to the White Sox, gave up six runs, 10 hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings.

The Yankees’ Paul O’Neill was ejected in the fourth inning by home plate umpire Terry Craft after throwing down his bat and helmet after a strikeout.

The sellout crowd of 40,817 was the sixth of the season at Comiskey Park.

Toronto 6, Boston 5--Carlos Delgado hit a two-run homer against Pedro Martinez--the first homer against Martinez with a man on base in 325 innings--and Tony Batista’s run-scoring single in the 13th gave the Blue Jays a victory over the Red Sox at Toronto.

Delgado, four-for-24 in his career against Martinez, hit his game-tying, two-run homer against the Boston ace in the seventh. Martinez had not given up a homer with a runner on base in 43 starts, since Baltimore’s Chris Hoiles hit a two-run shot Sept. 24, 1998.

“I’m glad I gave up five runs,” Martinez said. “In a way it’s relaxing for me that I give up a few, so that you guys start thinking I’m normal.”

The Red Sox are winless in Martinez’s last three starts--his longest winless streak since losing three straight in September 1998.

The Blue Jays have won five in a row to move two games ahead of New York and 2 1/2 in front of Boston in the American League East.

Delgado, who extended his hitting streak to 19 games, leads the league with 27 home runs.

Oakland 4, Kansas City 3--The Athletics, who have built a major-league best 17-4 record in June thanks to a potent offense, turned to pitching to win their eighth consecutive series.

The only longer streak was when the A’s won their final 11 regular-season series in 1988.

Rookie left-hander Mark Mulder held the Royals to one run and four hits in seven innings at Oakland as the A’s beat the Royals for their 10th win in 11 games.

Mulder (5-2), who has won his last three decisions, gave up only a run-scoring single by Jermaine Dye in the first, doubles by Joe Randa and Brian Johnson and an infield single by Dye in the sixth.

Texas 9, Tampa Bay 5--Rafael Palmeiro’s two-run double capped a six-run sixth-inning that was kept alive by two Devil Ray errors at Arlington, Texas.

Jose Guillen’s grand slam in the top of the sixth put Tampa Bay ahead, 5-1, but breakdowns by Albie Lopez (4-5) and some shoddy defense by the left side of the infield gave it all back.

Kenny Rogers (7-5) gave up five runs and nine hits in seven innings to win his fourth consecutive decision.

Seattle 4, Baltimore 2--Tom Lampkin hit his first grand slam as the Mariners rallied in the eighth inning at Seattle to hand the Orioles their ninth consecutive loss.

The Mariners, who have won six straight, swept the Orioles in a four-game series for the first time. It was also Seattle’s first four-game sweep at Safeco Field.

Baltimore’s Sidney Ponson took a three-hitter and 2-0 lead into the eighth inning before faltering. He walked Stan Javier and Alex Rodriguez to open the inning and was replaced by Alan Mills.

Mike Timlin (2-3) came in with two out and runners at first and second and blew his third save of the season. He hit Mike Cameron with his first pitch before Lampkin hit a 2-and-1 pitch over the right-field wall to give the Mariners the lead.

Cleveland 2, Detroit 1--Enrique Wilson homered on the first pitch from Matt Anderson (3-1) in the eighth inning at Cleveland as the Indians won for only the fifth time in 15 games.

It was Wilson’s second homer.