Another first for Bo Jackson. He had a standup triple Saturday in a 4-2 White Sox victory over the Rangers.
Jackson lined a ball down the line that got by right-fielder Jose Canseco in the sixth inning to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. Texas came back to tie it, but the Sox won in 10 innings.
The ball Jackson hit might have gone out for his first home run of the spring, but it was held up by stiff winds-the same stiff winds that deprived Canseco and Juan Gonzalez of a pair of home runs each.
Jackson was 1 for 3, which actually lowered his spring average to .395 (15 for 18). He came into the game batting .400.
The triple was Jackson’s fifth extra-base hit of the spring, giving him a .553 slugging percentage. He ran easily rounding the bases, but he admitted the triple was easy because the ball got by Canseco.
“It wasn’t a run; it wasn’t a jog,” said Jackson. “I guess you could call it a slow sprint.”
Jackson played left field-his fourth game in the outfield the last five days-and made three plays on the warning track.
– The victory at Port Charlotte, Fla., was the fifth in a row for the Sox, who are now 10-8.
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– Right-hander Ramon Garcia picked up the victory in relief. It was his first decision of the spring. Garcia gave up two hits and one walk in two shutout innings to lower his earned-run average to 2.85. Left-hander Chris Howard pitched a scoreless 10th to get his first save. It was only the third save by a Sox reliever this spring.
– Right-hander Dave Stieb started and went five innings, his longest outing of the spring. He gave up one run on three hits and three walks but caught a few breaks on the hard-hit balls that were held up by the wind. Stieb’s ERA is down to 3.86 through 14 innings. He continued to mix in curve with his fastball and changeup. Stieb, coming off an elbow injury, has yet to throw a slider in a game but has begun throwing the pitch on the sidelines. He is expected to be with the team on Opening Day-something that was questionable when he signed as a free agent last December.
– Reserve catcher Matt Merullo drove in the winning run with a double that scored Brad Komminsk, who reached base on one of four Texas errors. Steve Sax followed Komminsk with a single, went to third on Merullo’s double and scored the insurance run on a sacrifice fly by Chris Cron.
– The Sox made three more errors, raising their team total to 33 in 18 games. Catcher Ron Karkovice had his first, second baseman Sax made his third and minor-league third baseman Shawn Gilbert had his team-leading sixth.
– Reliever Barry Jones worked one scoreless inning. But left-hander Scott Radinsky gave up the game-tying run on three hits in one inning of work. He has a 4.0 ERA in nine innings this spring.
– Outfielder Shawn Abner played his first game in nearly two weeks. He has been out with a sore shoulder. He went 0 for 4.
– Minor-leaguer Drew Denson leads the Sox with a run batted in every 2.4 at-bats. Merullo is the runner-up with an RBI every 3.3 at-bats after his game-winner against the Rangers.