|
 "Besides marrying my wife and the birth of my kid, to be honest
with you, that's high up there," Eaton said. "It was unbelievable.
I've never had that much fun on a ball field."
Judging by the grins in the Chicago locker room, many of Eaton's
teammates would agree.
Left-hander Jose Quintana pitched seven scoreless innings, and the
White Sox turned the first triple play of the season in a 5-0
victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday.
All Rangers manager Jeff Banister could do was offer a heavy sigh
and shake his head at the strangeness of the triple play, which was
scored 9-3-2-6-2-5.
"I guess it was a full moon," Banister said.
Banister was correct.
Beneath the full moon, the Rangers loaded the bases with nobody out
in the seventh inning. Mitch Moreland hit a hard line drive toward
the corner in right field.
 Eaton made a running catch and fired a throw to first base to try to
double off Ian Desmond. Desmond beat the throw but overran first and
was tagged out by Jose Abreu, who then threw to home plate to
catcher Dioner Navarro.
Navarro saw Adrian Beltre stuck in no-man's land between second and
third and whipped a throw to shortstop Tyler Saladino, who
eventually threw back to home plate to catch Prince Fielder in a
rundown.
The sequence marked the White Sox first triple play since Sept. 18,
2006.
"Well, I never saw that before," Quintana said. "That was a rush."
Abreu agreed.
"I never have been in one before," Abreu said through a translator.
"To be part of this one was special. It was a very, very good play."
Melky Cabrera went 2-for-4 and scored a pair of runs to lead the
White Sox at the plate. Chicago (11-6) earned its third win in the
past four games.
Beltre and Fielder managed two hits apiece for the Rangers, who were
shut out for the first time this season. The loss snapped a
four-game winning streak for Texas (10-7).
Quintana (2-1) limited the Rangers to four hits. He walked two and
struck out four.
Before Friday, Texas had scored at least five runs in five of its
past six games. Banister credited Quintana with keeping Rangers
hitters off balance.
"He threw the ball very well," Banister said. "He worked on both
sides of the plate, and he had a good fastball, off-speed mix
tonight."
Left-hander Martin Perez (0-2) drew the loss after giving up five
runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings.
[to top of second column] |
The White Sox scored three runs in the sixth inning to pull ahead
5-0. Brett Lawrie hit a two-run double, and Jerry Sands singled to
drive in Lawrie.
The White Sox opened the scoring in the second inning when Cabrera
scored on a wild pitch. Rangers catcher Bryan Holaday could not find
the ball after he blocked a pitch in the dirt and it scooted several
feet away. Cabrera raced in from third base.
Abreu put the White Sox on top 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the third
inning. Abreu's deep fly ball to center field scored Eaton, who led
off the inning with an opposite-field double.
"Offensively, we haven't had a complete game," Eaton said. "I
thought tonight we got guys on, we got guys in, we got them over. We
did the fundamentals correctly, and that's good to see."
Beltre said the triple play spoiled a chance for a late-inning
comeback.
"(Quintana) was pitching great the whole game," Beltre said. "We
couldn't figure him out in the beginning, but in that inning we were
cracking up him up a little bit and we thought that was our break to
score some runs."
NOTES: White Sox OF/DH Avisail Garcia was kept out of the starting
lineup for the second time in the past three games. He entered
Friday hitting .146 with two home runs and five RBIs in 14 games.
"This is not picking on him because we have plenty to go around,"
Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. "But we expect him to do better
and get off the slump he's on right now." ... Rangers OF Nomar
Mazara was not in the starting lineup for the first time since
making his major league debut on April 10. OF Ryan Rua started in
Mazara's place. ... White Sox 1B/DH Jerry Sands made his fourth
start of the season. ... Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre played his 2,500th
career game at third base. The only player with more games at the
position is Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson with 2,870.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
