Great Falls White Sox Story 7-13 Game

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Monday, July 14, 2003

 

Error saves Sox

Extra out sparks ninth-inning rally

By CURT BACKA

Tribune Sports Writer

 

 

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Some errors will just hurt you.

And some errors will end up killing you.

 

Minutes after Billings' Habelito Hernandez belted a two-run, ninth-inning home run to give the Mustangs new life in Sunday's Pioneer League contest at Legion Park, the second baseman committed a key error that led to Chris Kelly's run-scoring double, giving the Great Falls White Sox a thrilling 8-7 victory.

 

Hernandez, whose homer tied the score at 7-7, booted Clinton King's sharp two-out grounder, which gave the White Sox one last gasp and Kelly, a 2003 sixth-round draft choice out of Pepperdine University, didn't let the opportunity slip away from him.

 

"You are always looking for ways to help the team," said Kelly, who is from Las Vegas. "He threw me a slider and I was able to hit it hard."

 

Kelly's long fly to leftcenter bounced off the wall and gave King plenty of time to score in front 3,016 fans on Tribune Family Day.

 

"Chris' hit was huge," first baseman Brandon Bounds said.

 

"You never like to give up the tying run or the winning run in the ninth inning.

 

"You always like to come back."

 

The White Sox improved to 18-7 with the win and are tied with Helena, an 18-3 loser to Missoula also on Sunday, for the Northern Division lead.

 

Billings dropped to 14-9. Great Falls' victory evened the three-game set at one game apiece and the two teams meet again tonight at 7 in the rubber game of the matchup.

 

Bounds, a strapping 6-foot-6 first baseman from Arlington, Texas, had given the White Sox a precarious one-run lead with a towering shot to right field in the fifth inning.

 

"It was a fastball and I knew it was coming," Bounds said.

 

Leading 7-5 in the eighth, Bounds had a chance to put the game away with a two-out, bases-loaded situation.

 

"Unfortunately when I had a chance to add to our lead in the eighth, they pitched me outside," Bounds said. "They wouldn't give me anything inside."

 

The White Sox, who had 10 hits on the day, threatened in every inning, except the first. Thanks to five Billings errors and six walks surrendered by Mustang pitching, the White Sox scored single runs in the third, fifth, sixth and the ninth.

 

They took their first lead in the fourth on Ricardo Nanita's clutch bases-loaded triple, which led to a four-run burst and a 5-3 advantage.

 

"It's nice to know anybody in this lineup, 1 through 9, can get the big hit," Bounds said.

 

On this day, with a 30-to-40 mph. wind blowing to right field, no lead was safe.

 

Although the wind did not affect either Hernandez's or Bounds' shots, any fly ball lifted to the outfield was an adventure.

 

"I know the infielders weren't having much trouble, but it looked like the outfielders were really struggling," Bounds said.

 

And the wind was not a friend of the pitchers.

 

Sean Thompson, a lefthander out of Redondo, Calif., got the start for the White Sox.

 

Thompson, after a shaky first-inning start -- he gave up two runs -- followed with scoreless efforts in the second and third inning. He gave up a single run in the fourth and ran into trouble in the fifth.

 

Ben Himes' two-run single ended Thompson's day. Fraser Dizard came in and got the final out in the fifth and pitched scoreless ball into the eighth.

 

Reliever Michael Moat got the last out of the eighth but was the victim of Hernandez's homer in the ninth.

 

Randy Surratt, who got the final two outs in the ninth, benefitted from Kelly's double to get the win and improved to 2-0.

 

The Mustangs also went though four hurlers. David Shafer, who was called on to pitch the ninth, suffered the loss.

 

After tonight's game which wraps up a mini three-game homestand for the White Sox, they head to Billings for three games and onto to Missoula for four. They return home July 22 to face Helena.

 

White Sox notes: Brandon McCarthy will get the start for the White Sox tonight and will be looking for his fifth victory of the season. McCarthy, 4-1, takes a nifty 1.97 ERA in the contest. James Paduck, 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA, will open for the Mustangs ... White Sox batboy Spencer Paul suffered an injury to his ankle Sunday afternoon after slipping on the dugout steps. Paul was taken to emergency room at Benefis.

 

Great Falls starting pitcher Sean Thompson gave up five runs on seven hits.