THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY

[StatManDu]

THIS DATE IN SOX HISTORY: SOX RIP RYAN

(For the rest of the day, see www.whitesoxalmanac.com)

1973:

The first-place White Sox scored five times off Nolan Ryan in the first inning and sent the fireballer to the showers in the first inning in a 7-4 win over the Angels at Anaheim. Ryan gave up five runs on four hits with one walk while retiring just one batter for the second-shortest start of his career to that point. Mike Andrews’ two-run double finished off Ryan. The Sox improved to 18-6, the best record in the Majors, and held their two-game lead atop the American League West. The 24-game start was tied for the second best in club history with the 1919 team. Only the 1912 club, which began 19-5, had a better record after 24 games. This outing ended up being tied for the third shortest start in Ryan’s Hall of Fame career. The only shorter starts came on Sept. 28, 1971 when he was with the Mets and on Sept. 22, 1993 when he was making the last of his 773 big league starts for the Rangers. In both games, he did not retire a batter. Ryan also lasted just one-third of an inning two other times: Aug. 14, 1973 and Sept. 11, 1979 (also against the Sox). Ryan did not record a strikeout in this game, marking just the fourth time that happened to this point. Ryan would end up not recording a strikeout in nine starts in his career and, oddly enough, four of them were against the White Sox.