White Sox Catch M’S Napping Chicago Makes Four Early Runs Stand Up In 4-2 Win Over Seattle

Ten days ago, Bob Wolcott wasn’t sure he’d make the team - even though Seattle manager Lou Piniella reminded him he was starting the third game of the regular season.

But when a 22-year-old right-hander struggles, the tendency is to look over a shoulder to see who’s coming up behind you. On Wednesday in the Kingdome, Wolcott didn’t have to look far.

Paul Menhart, 5 years older and just as hungry for his shot as Wolcott, pitched 4-2/3 innings of superb relief. And when the game was over, when the Chicago White Sox had used four early runs for a 4-2 victory over the Mariners, Wolcott was one frustrated rookie.

“Physically, I’m fine. My stuff was good enough to win tonight, I felt fine - my problems are all mental,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get things worked out before my next start.”

Mariners skipper Lou Piniella, old enough to be Wolcott’s father, rolled his eyes at the uncertainty of his No. 3 starter.

“Menhart pitched very well. He pitched like the guy we traded to get, so there was no huge surprise,” he said. “Wolcott was missing his spots, and he’s a spot pitcher. He’ll get better. He’ll have all year with us to show how much better.”

It was, three games into the season, a vote of confidence and a reminder of what the team already knows. If Seattle is to defend it’s American League West title, it will need Wolcott and Menhart pitching well.

“We scored eight runs in three games and won two of them,” Piniella said. “I’ll take pitching like that all season. We haven’t begun to hit, but credit Chicago pitching with some of that.”

In a season-opening series between two teams built on offense, Chicago and Seattle put together three magnificent pitching duels. The Mariners emerged 2-1 despite a .190 batting average - mostly because a rather suspect and short-handed pitching staff came out of the series with a 2.40 earned run average.

No one in the Mariners clubhouse blamed Wolcott for blocking a series sweep. In front of another sizeable crowd, this one 22,783, Seattle’s offense slumbered.

Yet Wolcott was inconsolable.

“I pitched aggressively, I got ahead of hitters, I just didn’t put them away in key situations,” he said. “In the ninth inning it should have been 2-2, but it wasn’t. And the reason it wasn’t is I made a couple of stupid pitches.”

Tony Phillips led off the game by homering on a 1-2 pitch, but the Mariners pulled even in the bottom half of the first when Joey Cora homered - giving him one more homer that Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buhner or Edgar Martinez.

When the Sox scored again in the second to take a 2-1 lead, Wolcott remained cool, helped considerably when a Griffey-to-Alex-Rodriguez-to-Dan Wilson relay cut down Chad Kreuter at home plate.

Wolcott kept it there, 2-1, into the fifth, outlasting Sox starter Kevin Tapani, who left after three innings with a strained groin muscle. But in the fifth, Wolcott made the mistakes he insisted beat his team.

After Phillips doubled with one out, Wolcott worked ahead in the count to Darren Lewis.

“We had him set up for a slider away, and I missed with it and he tripled down the line,” Wolcott said. “Then I made another mistake to Frank Thomas, he singled and it was 4-1… .”

Then Menhart was pitching. In his Mariners debut, the former Toronto Blue Jay coaxed an inning-ending double play ground ball with his first pitch - and Chicago never manufactured much of a threat against him.

“As debuts go, it was great,” Menhart said. “But I’d have rather given up a couple of runs and had us win.”

Projected early in spring as the team’s No. 4 starter, Menhart was stopped by a knot in his calf, not by his right arm. What Piniella saw was what he’d enjoyed this spring.

“Menhart has a sinker, a change-up, a breaking pitch and he knows how to use them all,” Piniella said. “If Chris (Bosio) isn’t ready to pitch April 13, Menhart goes into the rotation. If Bosio is ready, we’ll just keep things the way they are. But Menhart can pitch.”

So can Wolcott. To make certain the youngster understood that, Piniella called him into the office long after the game for a quick one-onone. Yes, he’d made mistakes. Yes, he’d lost a game.

“This is a long season and we’re going to need all the pitching we can get,” Piniella said. “Bob Wolcott is going to be just fine. All he needs to worry about is the opposing hitter, not his manager.”

As for the Mariners offense, it takes a day off today, although it could be argued it has taken off the first three games of the year. Griffey notched his first hit of the year - a single off Ozzie Guillen’s glove. He’s batting .083. Edgar Martinez had two hits, one a double, to push his average to .273. Buhner had a painful game: hit twice by pitches, intentionally walked once, he wound up 0 for 1 and batting .125.

“Once we get to playing every day, these guys will find a groove,” Piniella said. “We’d had too much time off early, but I’m not about to start worrying about those three guys.”

White Sox 4, Mariners 2 Chicago

AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Phillips lf 5 2 3 1 0 1 .250 DLewis cf 3 1 1 1 1 0 .143 Thomas 1b 4 0 1 1 0 0 .333 Ventura 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .077 Tartabull rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .000 DaMartinz rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Baines dh 4 1 1 0 0 0 .143 Kreuter c 2 0 1 0 2 0 .500 1-Martin pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Karkovice c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 Durham 2b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .333 Guillen ss 4 0 2 1 0 1 .300 Totals 32 4 9 4 4 5 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Bragg lf 4 0 0 0 1 2 .143 Cora 2b 5 1 1 1 0 1 .333 Griffey Jr cf 4 0 1 1 0 1 .083 EMartinz dh 3 0 2 0 1 1 .273 Buhner rf 1 0 0 0 1 0 .125 Sorrento 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .143 RDavis 3b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .182 DWilson c 4 0 1 0 0 0 .182 ARodrigz ss 3 1 1 0 0 0 .200 a-ADiaz ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Totals 33 2 6 2 3 10

Chicago 110 020 000 - 4 9 1

Seattle 100 010 000 - 2 6 1

a-struck out for Rodriguez in the 10th.

1-ran for Kreuter in the 9th.

E-Magrane (1), Buhner (1). LOBChicago 6, Seattle 9. 2B-Phillips (1), Baines (1), Guillen (1), EMartinez (2), DWilson (1), ARodriguez (1). 3B-DLewis (1). HR-Cora (1) off Tapani; Phillips (1) off Wolcott. RBIsPhillips (1), DLewis (1), Thomas (3), Guillen (1), Cora (1), Griffey Jr (1). S-Durham. GIDPThomas, Ventura.

Runners left in scoring position-Chicago 3 (Phillips, Thomas, Durham); Seattle 5 (Bragg, Sorrento 3, DWilson).

Runners moved up-Baines, Guillen, Sorrento.

DP-Seattle 2 (Sorrento, ARodriguez and Sorrento), (Menhart, Cora and Sorrento).

Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Tapani 3 2 1 1 1 3 55 3.00 McCaskill 1 1 1 1 0 1 20 5.40 Mgrne W,1-0 2 3 0 0 1 2 41 3.00 Karchner 1 0 0 0 1 2 22 0.00 RHernndz S,1 1 0 0 0 0 2 15 0.00 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Wolcott L,0-1 4 7 4 4 2 3 82 8.31 Menhart 4 2 0 0 2 2 61 0.00 McCaskill pitched to 1 batter in the 5th.

Inherited runners-scored-Magrane 1-1, Menhart 1-0.

IBBoff Magrane (Buhner) 1. HBPby Tapani (Buhner), by McCaskill (Buhner). WP-Menhart.

T-2:49. A-22,783 (59,166).