Today in White Sox History: May 3
South Side starters stay stingy
1918
The White Sox set their record for biggest win in team history, trouncing the Tigers by 16 runs, 19-3. With a 6-0 lead in the second inning, the visitors put the game away early.
The club also set their record for most hits in a game, with 25. Buck Weaver paced the Pale Hose with a 5-for-7 day, all singles; Weaver tied the team record for most hits in a game, which has since been broken with six hits but on just five occasions since.
In fact, just six of the team’s 25 hits were for extra bases, and none for home runs. All 11 White Sox batters in the game — even pinch-hitters Shano Collins and Byrd Lynn — had hits in the game. As a team, the White Sox held a .532 batting average in the contest, striking out just one time.
One interesting note, Lynn subbed for Ray Schalk in the sixth inning of the game, just one of four appearances for the White Sox on the season — and the Tigers ran wild on him, with two steals of second base and two of third; presumably, with the White Sox up, 17-1, at that point, Byrd wasn’t even making throws on the attempts.
Starting pitcher Lefty Williams had one hit in the game and scored two runs, going the distance to move to 4-0 for the 6-4 White Sox.
This 16-run win margin was tied in 1919 and eventually broken, in 1921. This win at Detroit remains tied for the eighth-biggest trouncing the club history.
This single-game hits record (tied in 1922) stood until 1936, when the Sox tapped out 26 hits. It remains tied for the fourth-most hits in a game in White Sox history.
1954
With a two-hitter in a 14-3 trouncing at Philadelphia in the first game of a twin bill, Sandy Consuegra extended South Side stinginess to three consecutive games that began with Virgil Trucks with a one-hitter on May 1 and continuing with Bob Johnson spinning a two-hitter on May 2. The White Sox out-hit the Athletics, 17-2, with all three runs against Consuegra being unearned due to two White Sox errors.
In the nightcap, the White Sox saw their winning and low-hit streak snapped, surrendering seven to Philly in a 2-1 loss.
1968
It’s a dubious record, one that Tommy McCraw wishes never was set.
In the third inning of a game at Comiskey Park, McCraw made three errors against the New York Yankees. Two of them occurred when he couldn’t field ground balls, and the third was on a throwing error. New York scored all of their runs in that frame, beating the Sox, 3-2. All the runs were unearned, of course.
2005
With a comeback win over Kansas City, 5-4, the White Sox established a major league record by holding a lead in their first 26 games of the season. That broke the old mark, set by the Brooklyn Dodgers.
After trailing all game, the White Sox took the lead on a Carl Everett double to right-center, scoring Scott Podsednik and Tadahito Iguchi with the eventual deciding tallies. The win improved Chicago to an MLB-best 19-7 record.
The White Sox would extend this record to 37 before playing a game in which they failed to hold a lead, in a May 15 loss, 6-2, to the Orioles at U.S. Cellular Field.
2011
A moribund Minnesota club stumbled into 42° Chicago and saw its starter, Francisco Liriano, toss a no-hitter at the punchless White Sox in a 1-0 squeaker.
Lirano shook hands with danger all night, walking six White Sox and punching out two. Even after the shutout, Liriano’s ERA stood at 6.61. Only one White Sox batter, reached as far as second base — Juan Pierre, after a walk and stolen base in the fourth inning. Chicago’s Edwin Jackson pitched nearly as well as Minny’s southpaw, giving up six hits but just one walk.
Believe it or not, that gem was the first no-hitter thrown by an opposing pitcher in the history of New Sox Park, at the time in its 20th season. The next summer, Liriano was dealt to the White Sox in attempt to fortify Chicago’s ill-fated division lead.