The White Sox, sad to report, are looking poorly. Scott Ruffcorn, a right-handed power pitcher recalled from Nashville, arrived safely with all of his luggage-except his best fastball was missing. The absence of his 90-mile heater was fatal. The Cleveland Indians, a good fastball-hitting club, bruised him badly en route to an 11-2 victory.
Actually, the game wasn’t as close as the score indicates. At the end of five, after Ruffcorn had been knocked out, the Indians had a 7-0 lead and were ahead 11-0 after eight. With two outs in the ninth, long after the game was gone, the Sox responded with two consolation runs. In effect, it was the most lopsided loss the Sox suffered this season, though they had been beaten twice before by nine runs.
But as Paul Assenmacher, the bullpen philosopher, observed: “It only counts as one loss.”
The victory gave the Indians a 4-3 edge in this eight-game, 10-day series between the top two clubs in the American League Central. If the Indians win again in Sunday’s final it won’t mean beans because both teams still have more than 60 games to play-unless the season is destroyed by a player strike.
What has been demonstrated thus far is that if the Indians win the division, Kenny Lofton, their center-fielder, will be a strong candidate for the league’s Most Valuable Player award, which Frank Thomas won by unanimous acclaim last year.
Lofton, who Friday night had three hits, a walk and four stolen bases, was on the prowl again Saturday. He had three more hits, stole a base and scored two runs before he was lifted after the sixth. Lofton is hitting .365. Had he gone the route, he would have caught Derrin Jackson’s ninth-inning triple, which more than likely would have given Cleveland starter Jason Grimsley a complete-game shutout.
Whatever, there can be no denying the Indians have a strong-hitting team, perhaps even better than the White Sox, who have three sluggers in the middle of their lineup with 70 or more runs batted in. The Indians have outhomered the Sox 10-6 in the three games here. Jim Thome has led Cleveland’s power barrage with three home runs, all in succession Friday night.
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Still, when the history of the season is completed, Saturday could be a considered a day of significance. In addition to recalling Ruffcorn, the Sox acquired catcher Bob Melvin in a trade with the California Angels. A 10-year major leaguer, Melvin isn’t much of an offensive threat but is an excellent receiver with a strong arm.
Melvin replaces Ron Karkovice, who underwent knee surgery last Thursday and is expected to be out for at least a month. The acquisition of Melvin indicates General Manager Ron Schueler believes the club needs more defensive strength behind the plate. Manager Gene Lamont had Melvin catch the last three innings Saturday. Melvin had one at-bat, in the ninth, and tapped weakly to the mound and into a force play.
As for Ruffcorn, Lamont emphasized, “This isn’t a one-day thing.” This would indicate Ruffcorn is with the big club to stay-unless he can’t get anybody out. Ruffcorn retired only 12 of 23 batters Saturday and was shelled for nine hits and seven runs, all earned.
Ruffcorn made two unsuccessful appearances with the Sox last year and returned to the minors with an 8.10 ERA. He was 11-2 with Nashville this season with 107 strikeouts in 118 innings. It is not common to throw a rookie pitcher into the middle of a pennant race, but Schueler could be looking to the long-term. If Ruffcorn can shake the jitters he not only would be of immediate help but would open ’95 with the benefit of a half-season of experience at the major league level.
If he stays, Ruffcorn replaces the veteran Scott Sanderson as the fifth starter. It seems somewhat unfair to Sanderson, who has been a big plus-eight victories in his first 15 starts. But Sanderson lately has been ineffective and will now work long relief.
Nobody knows if Ruffcorn will be an improvement, not even Schueler, who more often than not makes the right decision.