Sox' bullpen takes one on the chin
The only fight the White Sox figured to lose on Thursday was the one that erupted in the bottom of the eighth inning.
It happened in the Wrigley Field upper deck just to the left of home plate, and a Sox fan clearly got the worst of it.
Down on the field, the White Sox were in complete control at that late stage of the game, and they looked like a lock to complete a rain-shortened, two-game interleague sweep over the rival Cubs.
"You're up by 4 in the eighth, most of the time the White Sox win," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "A good percent of the time we win."
Holding a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning was a good omen for the Sox. They were 25-2 when leading after the seventh this season and the Cubs' sputtering offense was showing few signs of life.
Enter Scott Linebrink.
One of the premier setup relief pitchers in baseball during the first half of last season, the Sox' 32-year-old right-hander was sidelined for much of the second half with shoulder soreness and had been struggling over the last 10 days, allowing 3 runs in 32/3 innings.
Linebrink was actually as sharp as he's been all season against the Cubs on Wednesday while retiring the side in order on just 11 pitches, but Thursday was a much different story.
"I didn't make pitches," Linebrink said. "You've got to make pitches against guys like that, Derrek Lee, Geovany Soto, those guys can hurt you. And the last thing I want to do is go out there and put them in a situation where they can get back into the game."
That's exactly what happened.
Coming on in the eighth inning, Linebrink didn't seem too concerned when Cubs leadoff hitter Micah Hoffpauir reached on second baseman Chris Getz's second error of the game.
Alfonso Soriano followed with a single, but Linebrink got Ryan Theriot to pop out and he struck out Milton Bradley.
But Lee made it a 5-4 game when he homered on Linebrink's first pitch, and Soto tied it when he homered on a 1-1 fastball.
"They caught the middle of the plate," Linebrink said. "Lee had enough to drive it out to right (field) and Soto's pitch was just right down the middle."
Linebrink kept his cool while fielding postgame questions, but he didn't care of another inquiry about his shoulder.
"I'm not going to answer anymore questions about my health," Linebrink said. "I mean, that's long put to bed. It's not an issue."
The Cubs won the game in the ninth inning on Soriano's broken-bat RBI single off Matt Thornton, stunning the White Sox in the process.
"To not win as a team, I think that's the most disappointing thing," said Sox starter Gavin Floyd, who limited the Cubs to 1 run on 4 hits over 7 innings. "I want those guys (Linebrink and Thornton) in there every single time. It just didn't work out for them. We're going to bounce back and take on tomorrow."
And Linebrink is going to stay in his eighth-inning relief role, at least for now.
"Very bad day," Guillen said of Linebrink. "Very bad week. That thing was there; he wasn't hitting his spots. He was behind in the count a lot. It's like a slap in the face. That's his role and he's been pitching in that role since we got him.
"The last week he hasn't gotten it done, especially today. We want to see how he continues to throw. If not, we've got a few guys there to make a change, but I'm going to stick with him as long as I can."
Scot Gregor's White Sox tracker
Bad break: Gavin Floyd pitched well enough to win while allowing 1 run on 4 hits over 7 innings, and he also turned in sixth straight quality start. But the bullpen, particularly Scott Linebrink, couldn't close out the Cubs.
Statistically speaking: Due to 2B Chris Getz's error in the eighth inning, all 4 of Linebrink's runs allowed were unearned.
Going deep: Alexei Ramirez homered for the second straight game, the second time this season the Sox' shortstop has gone over the fence in consecutive games (May 22-23 vs. Pittsburgh).
Silent bats: Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye were a combined 3-for-16 in the series.