Kruk’s Sac-Fly Downs Mariners White Sox Win In 10th Inning After Raines Scores From Third

John Kruk’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning gave the Chicago White Sox a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night.

Tim Raines led off the 10th with a single off Bill Risley (1-1) and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Frank Thomas followed with a single to left, moving Raines to third.

Risley then walked Norberto Martin to load the bases for Kruk, who followed with a fly to left that scored Raines easily.

Kirk McCaskill (4-2) pitched two no-hit innings for the victory.

Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, Seattle tied the score on Tino Martinez’s RBI single and Doug Strange’s triple.

Robin Ventura drew a walk off starter Chris Bosio leading off the fifth and scored on Warren Newson’s triple, giving Chicago a 3-2 lead. Then Bosio bounced a pitch to Ray Durham, and the ball went to the wall, allowing Newson to score.

In five innings, Bosio gave up four runs and five hits, walked nine batters, threw two wild pitches and hit a batter. The Mariners’ record for walks in a game is 11 by Rick Jones at Texas in 1977.

In the fifth, Seattle’s Marc Newfield hit a shot high off the left-field wall, where Raines leaped in an attempt at a catch.

The ball went into the corner and Raines had trouble locating it. Newfield circled the bases for a homer, tying the score 2-2. It was the first inside-the-park homer in new Comiskey Park, which opened in 1991.

Newson walked leading off the fourth inning, Ray Durham singled and Ron Karkovice bunted for a base hit to fill the bases. Ozzie Guillen followed with a single, right scoring Newson and Durham, giving Chicago a 2-1 lead.

After retiring the first 10 batters, rookie Brian Keyser gave up singles to Joey Cora and Edgar Martinez. Tino Martinez’s sacrifice fly scored Cora for a 1-0 lead.

Tough decision ahead

In a season of tough choices, the Seattle Mariners face another difficult decision Friday - what to do with shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

The day they open a homestand against the American League West teams, Luis Sojo will come off the disabled list, giving the Mariners three veteran middle infielders in Sojo, Felix Fermin and Joey Cora.

The simplest solution is to send Rodriguez, 19, back to Tacoma for more experience. But Rodriguez is playing superbly and Fermin is batting .176 - and just .153 since coming off the disabled list May 27.

In his first 22 games, Rodriguez has batted .288 with two home runs, nine RBI, three stolen bases and three errors. He’s currently on a tear - batting .368 in his last 19 at-bats.

Seattle is leaning toward sending Rodriguez down, playing Sojo at shortstop and platooning Fermin and Cora at second base.

Notes

Seattle’s Rich Amaral has been successful on his last 13 stolen base attempts, dating back to last year. The last time he was caught stealing was May 30, 1994, at Minnesota… . Chicago’s Ozzie Guillen went 1 for 4 and is now batting .306 (41-for-134). In club history, only four White Sox shortstops have finished a season hitting above .300: Luke Appling, 12 times; and Bill Almon, Luis Aparicio and Buck Weaver, all once. Guillen hit a career-best .288 last season… . In the sixth inning, Ventura was called out on strikes by Tim McClelland, and manager Terry Bevington and Ventura were ejected for arguing the call… . John Kruk, fitness guru and White Sox designated hitter, to manager Terry Bevington Wednesday: “If we don’t play until 7 p.m., why do we have to stretch at 4 p.m.?” Kruk prefers not to stretch before batting practice. Or games… . Add Thefts: Seattle runners have safely stolen third base 12 times in 13 attempts.