Chicago strikes out Houston in World Series Game 1
By Emily Kaiser
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The Chicago White Sox called on their
bullpen for the first time in five games, and the seldom-used
relievers stepped up with three crucial strikeouts to lift
Chicago to a 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 1 of
the best-of-seven World Series Saturday.
Joe Crede homered and made several sparkling defensive
plays to rob the Astros of at least two runs as Chicago drew
one step closer toward what would be its first world
championship since 1917. It was the first time the White Sox
had won a World Series game since 1959, when they beat the
legendary Sandy Koufax 1-0.
“You’ve got to give Crede credit,” Astros Manager Phil
Garner said. “We hit some balls a foot one way or another, it
might be a different ball game. But it wasn’t. They made the
plays.”
It didn’t start out as the pitching duel that many had
expected, with Roger Clemens lasting just two innings for
Houston and Chicago forced to call on its bullpen for the first
time since Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.
The teams combined to hit three home runs, while the
vaunted pitching staffs gave up a combined five walks and hit
three batsmen.
But Chicago’s bullpen delivered. With runners at first and
third and no one out in the 8th inning, the Sox clinging to a
one-run lead, lefty Neal Cotts struck out Morgan Ensberg and
Mike Lamb — who had homered earlier in the game — before
turning it over to rookie closer Bobby Jenks.
Jenks, who hadn’t pitched since the Division Series against
the defending champion Boston Red Sox, struck out Astros
slugger Jeff Bagwell on a pitch clocked at 100 miles per hour.
He got the last three outs in the 9th for the save, bringing
the screaming crowd of 41,206 to its feet.
NO REST, NO RUST
There had been some concern that the relievers would be
rusty after so many days off, but Guillen said they stayed
loose by playing catch and throwing simulated games.
“I don’t have any worries about my bullpen,” White Sox
Manager Ozzie Guillen said. “We win a lot of ballgames because
of them.”
Indeed, Guillen was so relaxed that when he signaled for
Jenks to come into the game, he stretched his hands out wide in
reference to Jenks’s girth — something he had done for a laugh
earlier in the season, but it came as a bit of a surprise in
such a clutch situation with millions of spectators around the
world watching.
“I think it’s pretty funny, calling the big guy in,” Jenks
said about Guillen’s gesture. “I know he does a lot of things
out of humor. He doesn’t mean anything by it. I’m taking the
smile with it.”
Future Hall of Famer Clemens, 43, left after two innings
with a strained left hamstring — an injury that has plagued
him down the stretch. He gave up three runs on four hits,
striking out just one.
White Sox starter Jose Contreras pitched 7-plus solid
innings for the win, giving up three runs on six hits, but he
ended Chicago’s streak of four consecutive complete games. Sox
relievers pitched just two-thirds of an inning during the
entire ALCS.
Houston needed three pitchers to get through just the first
six innings Saturday.
Right fielder Jermaine Dye got the White Sox on the board
early with a 383-foot solo home run off Clemens in the first,
but Houston quickly tied it up in the second with first baseman
Mike Lamb’s 405-foot homer to center.
Back-to-back singles by Carl Everett and Aaron Rowand put
the White Sox back in the lead in the bottom half of the
second. Everett scored on a ground ball by catcher A.J.
Pierzynski, who later came around to score on a double by
shortstop Juan Uribe.
But Contreras, who was dominant in Sunday’s pennant-winning
victory over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, couldn’t hold
the lead for the second time. Left-fielder Lance Berkman tied
it up in the third with a two-run double in the third.
Crede, the ALCS hero for twice driving in the game-winning
runs, homered in the fourth to put the Sox ahead for good.
Chicago tacked on an insurance run in the 8th on an RBI triple
by speedster Scott Podsednik.