August 21, 2005: White Sox sting Yankees’ Randy Johnson with four homers in the fourth inning

On Sunday, August 21, 2005, as the New York Yankees (67-54) took the field to play the White Sox (74-46), they were in second place, three games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East Division while the White Sox were in first place in the AL Central, 8½ games up on the Cleveland Indians. On this day, the White Sox not only got the best of the Yankees, winning 6-2, but they performed a feat that had never been done, and never would be, against future Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson.

The Yankees’ roster brimmed with talent. Their top four batters were Derek Jeter, Robinson Canó, Gary Sheffield, and Álex Rodríguez, who between them had 45 All-Star Game appearances. Pitching for the Yankees was the Big Unit, Randy Johnson, with an impressive 10 All-Star Game appearances. The White Sox boasted a lineup that focused offensively on Paul Konerko batting fourth with six All-Star Game appearances.

The skies were sunny and the temperature was 78 degrees. The attendance at US Cellular Field was 39,480.

The White Sox came into the game having lost seven straight games, their longest losing streak of the season. With only 42 games remaining, pressure was high.1 Manager Ozzie Guillén was confident that the losing streak was going to end and “glad that his team had decided to get their losing streak out of the way now.”2

The White Sox starting pitcher, José Contreras, threw 15 pitches in the first inning, leaving Gary Sheffield on base after his infield single to third base. In the bottom of the first, Randy Johnson allowed leadoff hitter Pablo Ozuna a groundball single into center field. Ozuna stole second on a 1-and-0 count on teammate Tadahito Iguchi, who eventually struck out on a 2-and-2 count. With one out, Ozuna was caught leaning between second and third. Johnson stepped off the rubber and threw to second baseman Robinson Canó, who eventually relayed to third baseman Álex Rodríguez for the tag out. Aaron Rowand popped out to left field, allowing Johnson also to escape the inning throwing only 15 pitches.

It remained much of the same in the second. Both pitchers dominated, each facing only three batters. Contreras threw 12 pitches, striking out Hideki Matsui, forcing a popout to center field by Bernie Williams, and forcing a groundout to second base by Tino Martinez. Johnson threw nine pitches, striking out Paul Konerko and getting Jermaine Dye and Juan Uribe to ground out to shortstop.

Contreras gave up the first run of the day in the top of the third inning. After back-to-back singles from Tony Womack and Derek Jeter, Contreras attempted to pick off the speedy Womack at second but threw the ball into center field. The Yankees now had runners on second and third with one out. Canó’s groundball to second base scored Womack. 1-0, Yankees.

In the bottom of the third, Randy Johnson continued his dominance, throwing only 11 pitches. He struck out Chris Widger and Brian Anderson and forced Geoff Blum to fly out to center field.

Through 3 1/2 innings the game was straightforward, some might say, slowly unfolding like a long summer’s day. However, Willie Mays once said of baseball, “For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.” This violence and unpredictability of baseball exploded all at once in the bottom of the fourth at US Cellular Field.3

Randy Johnson came into the bottom of the fourth having thrown only 35 pitches. With one out, Tadahito Iguchi came to the plate to start a team effort that not only broke the game open but was never repeated in Johnson’s career. On a 2-and-0 count, Iguchi hit a line-drive home run to right field, tying the game at 1-1. Aaron Rowand, the number-three batter in the White Sox lineup, entered the batter’s box and with a 2-and-2 count completed a carbon-copy home run of Iguchi’s to right field. Johnson, visibly irritated, set to take on the cleanup power hitter of the White Sox, Paul Konerko. On a 0-and-2 count, Johnson attempted to strike out Konerko with a slider that hung over the plate. Konerko hit a towering 410-foot bomb to the deep left-field bleachers. For the third time in three batters, the White Sox play-by-play commentator, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, belted, “You can put it on the boards, Yes!”4

The score now 3-1 and only one out, Johnson gave up line-drive singles to Dye and Uribe before taking on Chris Widger. Widger, who had hit only three home runs in the past five years, was able to cap off the unthinkable moment. On a 1-and-2 count, Johnson said later, he “fired a high fastball that was not meant to be a strike but to initiate a swing and miss.”5 However, Widger took the pitch and sent it into the bleachers. This was the fourth home run of the inning, making the score 6-1, White Sox. Widger later said, “Honestly, in this game, you get lucky sometimes, and sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”6 This moment in the fourth inning was a head-scratching, once-in-a-lifetime moment not only for Randy Johnson but also for the White Sox fans erupting at US Cellular Field.7

With the snap of a finger, the game went back to the leisurely pace as seen prior to the bottom of the fourth. In the top of the sixth, Tino Martinez singled to right field, scoring Gary Sheffield and making the score 6-2, White Sox.

Johnson allowed back-to-back singles to Konerko and Dye in the bottom of the sixth inning. Juan Uribe’s groundout to second base advanced the runners. However, Johnson closed the door and struck out both Widger and Brian Anderson.

The seventh and eighth innings saw only one baserunner, Robinson Canó, who singled on a line drive to center field in the top of the seventh.

José Contreras completed the eighth inning throwing 112 pitches and allowing no walks. This was the longest outing of his career to date without issuing a walk. In the ninth inning, Dámaso Marté came in and closed out the game, pitching to the minimum three batters, putting an exclamation point on the game, beating Johnson and the Yankees and helping the White Sox end their losing streak at seven games.

The Yankees’ Johnson settled down after the fourth inning and completed the game with 117 pitches. This was the only time in Johnson’s Hall of Fame career that he gave up back-to-back-to-back home runs, and the only game in which he allowed four home runs in one inning.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Restrosheet.org, and a YouTube video of the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA200508210.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2005/B08210CHA2005.htm

“White Sox go back-to-back-to-back off Unit in 2005,” YouTube.com, uploaded by MLB August 21, 2005, https://youtu.be/OPkMVccOcig?si=wPTUKvF8QjVV0AC9

Photo credit: Chris Widger, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 “Yankees’ Swoon in 2000 a Lesson for Sox,” Chicago Tribune, August 22, 2005.

2 Riverside Sluggers, “August 21 Yankees vs White Sox,” TalkSox.com, August 21, 2005. https://talksox.com/forums/topic/71942-august-21-yankees-vs-white-sox/. Retrieved on September 12, 2024.

3 “75+ Best Baseball Quotes From Players, Movies, & More,” justtbats.com, May 8, 2024. https://www.justbats.com/blog/post/best-baseball-quotes-from-players-movies-more/. Retrieved August 10, 2024.

4 Robert Kuenster, “Across More Than 50 Years in Baseball, Ken ‘Hawk’ Harrelson Was an Entertainer,” Forbes, September 20, 2018. Harrelson was a White Sox announcer from 1982 to 1985 and 1990 to 2018. He was known for his unique phrases like “You can put it on the boards, Yes!” and “He gone! Grab some bench!” referring to a White Sox pitcher striking out an opposing batter.

5 Tyler Kepner, “Fiasco in Fourth Sinks Johnson and Yankees,” New York Times, August 22, 2005.

6 Kepner.

7 Chris Widger hit only four home runs in 2005. In 2006 Widger hit one home run with the White Sox.