Brewers 2, White Sox 1
Brewers now 17-14
Box Score | Season Schedule
CHICAGO — You might think that a game won by the score of 2-1 may be lacking heroes. You, my friend, would be wrong.
First, I present to you Gorman Thomas. In the first inning with two outs and Ron LeFlore on second, Greg Luzinski hit a towering drive to the deepest part of Comiskey Park in centerfield. Gorman Thomas raced it down, making an amazing running catch to save a run.
Soon after, with two down in the Brewers’ half of the second inning, Thomas hit a homer off of the facing below the upper deck in left field to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.
With two down in the top of the fourth, Gorman Thomas and White Sox starter Richard Dotson faced off again. On a two balls, two strikes pitch, Dotson threw ball three up around Gorman’s head, knocking him to the ground. Thomas dusted himself off, glared at Dotson, and stepped back into the batter’s box.
Gorman Thomas fouled off the next three pitches before launching the fourth into the second row of the upper deck in left.
But you can’t win a game 2-1 without pitching heroes. You may recall that this should have been Bob McClure‘s day to pitch. But he has been out with a bruised pitching elbow, so long man Jim Slaton took his turn on the mound. Slaton did more than could have possibly been expected of him against the hard-hitting (now) 20-11 White Sox. He held them to one run on six hits in 5 2/3 innings, striking out six.
Need a third hero? How about the mustachioed one, Rollie Fingers? Our valiant closer entered with two down and the tying run on third base in the seventh inning. Fingers got Luzinski to tap back to the mound to end that threat, and he then retired the final six White Sox batters to end the game. Perfection.
Sure, the Brewers made a couple of errors again on defense (Yount committed his seventh and Yost his first). But this is the type of hard fought game we’ve been waiting to see from the Brewers against one of the league’s top teams.
We know you have it in you, Brewers. Do it again tomorrow.
Game Notes: Today’s win ended the Brewers’ four game losing streak … Thomas now has six home runs, all hit during the month of May … Fingers recorded his seventh save … Infielder Rob Picciolo has been acquired from the Oakland A’s for minor league first baseman John Evans and pitcher Mike Warren. Warren had been drafted from the A’s last December. Picciolo, 29, will be a back-up at second, shortstop and third … Kevin Bass, who celebrated his 23rd birthday two days ago, was sent down to make room for Picciolo … Brewers pitching coach Cal McLish has been experiencing blurred vision and dizziness and is not with the team … Mark Brouhard is expected to be out a few more days, recovering from a tight calf … Jerry Augustine is being prepared for the possible signing of pitcher Dave Goltz. Augustine, who has two years left on his contract, is expected to be the odd man out.