Flashback: White Sox 5, Mariners 4 (April 16, 1992)

Next in our rainy-day theater series is an early-season tilt at New Comiskey Park, a 1992 White Sox win over the Seattle Mariners, 5-4.

The game started pretty ugly, with Alex Fernandez giving up a single-walk-single (the second single a BUNT from Ken Griffey Jr.) to load the bases with nobody out. After a pop out and a whiff of Kevin Mitchell, Fernandez walked Jay Buhner on four pitches, forcing in a run. (Look how miserable Buhner is on first base, in the pouring rain, on a 44 degree night.) But with the sacks packed, Fernandez got Tino Martinez to fly out to George Bell to end the threat (note that the Baseball-Reference box score linked above indicates it was a “deep” fly out, but it’s not even close to a grand slam ... clean it up, B-R).

The White Sox chipped away all game to take control of the game, as Robin Ventura had an RBI ground out in the first, Matt Merullo a sac fly and Ozzie Guillén an RBI double in the second, and Bell a two-run blast in the third.

That would be all the White Sox needed ... barely. Bobby Thigpen, in his disastrous final full season in Chicago that saw him lose his closer’s job to Roberto Hernandez by season’s end, gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the ninth. Edgar Martinez was left stranded on third base, however, when Mitchell grounded out to end the game.

Thigpen was a disappointment in 1992, but so were the Sox, as the club won “just” 86 games and would have the lowest winning percentage of any White Sox team since 1989 and until 1995.

Anyway, how’s about I turn it over to Hawk and Wimpy on the call of the game. Bundle up, cinch it up and hunker down for a 1992 winner!