THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: APRIL 17TH

The White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Baltimore Orioles at Comiskey Park to improve to 7-0. The victories enabled the Sox to break a 62-year-old club record for consecutive wins at the start of a season. Rain the day before forced the Sox to play their first home Opening Day doubleheader since 1972. The double win meant the Sox had swept all four of their Opening Day doubleheaders (1917, 1972 and earlier in 1982). The White Sox took the first game 3-1 and then captured the nightcap 10-6 as 28,977 took in the festivities on the Southside. In the first game, Greg Luzinski’s two-run homer in the first fronted the Sox for good and made a winner of Britt Burns, who tossed seven shutout innings. In the second game, Jim Morrison untied a 6-6 game in the eighth with a home run that touched off a four-run inning.

Ron Kittle launched what would be the final roof-shot home run at Old Comiskey Park history in the White Sox 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox before a frigid crowd of 8,479. Kittle’s “roofer,” the record seventh of his career, came off Rob Murphy and tied the game at one in the sixth. Ozzie Guillen singled in Sammy Sosa in the ninth to make a winner out of Barry Jones and loser of Lee Smith.

 

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