Esteban Loaiza pitched surprisingly well during Spring Training, strong enough to earn the fourth spot in the White Sox rotation as a non-roster invitee. But, compared to the success of his first three starts of the regular season, Loaiza's time in Arizona was literally and figuratively a warm up.
Following Thursday's six-inning effort in which he matched a career-high with 11 strikeouts and defeated division-leading Kansas City, Loaiza sits with a perfect 3-0 with the second lowest ERA in the American League. The White Sox expected Loaiza to contribute, but this sort of dominance surprises even the players who faced him when he pitched for Texas and Toronto.
"He was good in Texas, but you could still get hits and score runs off him," said White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko of Loaiza. "Now, Esteban is hitting his spots to the point of where he has ace-type stuff. Guys are not getting good swings."
By his own admission, Loaiza has never had this sort of three-game dominant run in his career. The 31-year-old veteran hopes to extend that success to four games, when he opposes the Orioles Tuesday. Loaiza posted a 2-0 record with a 2.78 ERA against Baltimore last season and has a 2-1 mark with a 4.06 ERA in five starts at Camden Yards.
Loaiza has also limited opposing hitters to a .130 batting average. Even Loaiza himself seems slightly surprised by his fast start, despite his 12-3 record with a 3.01 ERA in April and 60-70 mark with a 5.08 ERA otherwise. But, Loaiza doesn't believe his past record accurately reflects his ability.
"You have ups and downs in your career, just like every other player," Loaiza said. "Sometimes you get run support, and some times you struggle. But, I saw in Spring Training this team could swing the bats and score a lot of runs and knew I would be all right if I threw strikes."
Pitching matchup:
CHI: RHP Esteban Loaiza
9-10, 5.71 in 2002
3-0, 1.31 in 2003
5-4, 4.19 lifetime vs. BAL
BAL: RHP Sidney Ponson
12-12, 4.58 in 2002
1-1, 6.06 in 2003
1-3, 6.53 lifetime vs. CHI
Players to watch: Following a day off, Frank Thomas returns to the lineup Tuesday in a park where he has hit well in the past. Thomas has a .294 average in 47 games at Camden Yards, with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs. Carlos Lee, who has homered in five consecutive games, has just one home run in 44 at-bats in Baltimore.
Quotable: "The gun (at U.S. Cellular Field) is screwed up. Everyone else is throwing nowhere close to where they should be. But, it was a bad pitch, and it doesn't matter if the speed was 96, 93 or 86 mph. If you throw it down the middle, someone is going to hit it hard." -- White Sox closer Billy Koch on his pitch velocity after yielding Karim Garcia's two-run home run in the ninth inning of Monday's loss.
On television:
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On radio:
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Quick hits: Carlos Lee extended his home run streak to five straight games, tying the club record and the longest streak for the White Sox since Frank Thomas went deep in five straight from May 24 to May 29 in 1994. ...Magglio Ordonez doubled to lead off the sixth, extending his hitting streak to 17 games and matching his career best. He now surpasses Atlanta's Gary Sheffield for the longest hitting streak in the Majors. ...Rick White worked a career-high 3 1/3 innings in relief of Jon Garland, striking out four. In his previous six appearances, White pitched 5 2/3 innings and struck out four. ...D'Angelo Jimenez reached base for the 16th consecutive game, but his hitting streak ended at eight. ...Kelly Wunsch is still perfect in 2003, pitching two scoreless innings Monday. He matched his career high with three strikeouts.
