September 23, 2005: José Contreras throws his first complete game to stop White Sox skid

For much of the 2005 season, the White Sox cruised in the American League Central Division race. Even with slugger Frank Thomas missing almost all of the season because of an injured left ankle, the team dominated the division with strong pitching, steady hitting, and strong defense. The White Sox had a 15-game lead over the second-place Cleveland Indians on August 1.

The team, however, began to slump. The White Sox won 22 games and lost 26 between August 2 and September 22. Meanwhile, the Indians got hot and closed the gap, going 35-12 during the same period. The White Sox’ lead dropped to 1½ games.

During the White Sox slump, Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti compared them to the 1969 Chicago Cubs. That team led the former National League East division by 7½ games on August 19, 1969, before it suffered one of the most infamous collapses in major-league history. The team finished second in the division to the New York Mets, the eventual World Series champion. Mariotti wrote: “But when you see the Sox morph into a limp, feeble club that can’t piece together a run, much less win a game – I mean, is it wrong to mention early similarities to 1969?”1

White Sox pitcher José Contreras gave his team a major boost. On September 23 Contreras threw the first complete game of his major-league career as the White Sox defeated the visiting Minnesota Twins 3-1 at US Cellular Field (later called Guaranteed Rate Field).

Contreras, a 6-4, 255-pound right-hander, improved to 14-7. He allowed six hits, struck out nine, and walked one batter in a brisk 2:19 before 28,003 raucous fans.

Contreras survived a shaky start in the top of the first inning. The Twins’ Jason Tyner led off with a single to left field, then stole second base. Contreras walked Nick Punto. Contreras faced Joe Mauer with two on and nobody out. Mauer grounded to Contreras, who threw to shortstop Juan Uribe to force out Punto at second base, and Uribe threw to Paul Konerko at first base to complete the double play. Tyner advanced to third. The Twins’ Matt LeCroy flied to center fielder Aaron Rowand for the third out.

The White Sox scored all of their runs in the bottom of the first inning off losing pitcher Kyle Lohse, whose record fell to 9-13. Scott Podsednik led off with a double to left field. Tadahito Iguchi struck out and A.J. Pierzynski flied out to center field. After Konerko drew a walk, Jermaine Dye hit a three-run home run to left field. It was his 29th home run of the season.

Contreras retired the Twins in order in the second, third, and fourth innings. He started the top of the fifth inning by striking out the first two batters, Jacque Jones and Mike Ryan. (Ryan had replaced Michael Cuddyer in right field.) The third batter, Justin Morneau, doubled to left field. It was the only extra-base hit Contreras gave up in the game. Afterward, Contreras’s fielding helped the White Sox again. The Twins’ Terry Tiffee grounded back to him, and Contreras’s throw to first retired the side.

Ryan drove in the Twins’ only run in the top of the seventh inning. Mauer led off with a single to right field. He stole second after Matt LeCroy and Jones struck out. Ryan’s single to right drove in Mauer. Ryan stole second during Morneau’s at-bat, but Morneau fouled out to Konerko to end the inning.

The White Sox had a final scare in the top of the ninth. Punto led off with a single to right and went to second and third on groundouts by Mauer and LeCroy. Jacque Jones stepped to the plate. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén walked to the pitcher’s mound. The crowd, fearing Guillén wouldn’t let Contreras complete the shutout, booed the manager. But Guillén left Contreras in the game, and he struck out Jones for the final out.2

Contreras gave up six hits, struck out nine, and walked just one batter. “It’s one of the best games I’ve pitched in my whole career as a baseball player,” Contreras said after the game. “And the best I’ve pitched in the US.”3

The win gave the White Sox a much-needed lift. It preserved the team’s thin lead and helped save the season. Cleveland beat host Kansas City 7-6 the same night. Starting with Contreras’s win, the White Sox won 8 of their last 10 games and took the division. That included a season-ending three-game sweep of the Indians. The Indians finished 3-6 in their last nine games.

For Contreras, a 33-year-old Cuban defector, the game was part of a quest for vindication. Born in Las Martinas, Cuba, he had played seven years for the Cuban national team, He pitched well in international competition. Contreras often baffled hitters by throwing several different pitches, including a fastball and a forkball, from different angles.4

Although Contreras had achieved fame in his homeland, he craved to play in the US major leagues. He defected while the Cuban team was playing in Mexico in 2002.5 He eventually was smuggled into the United States.

Contreras pitched for the New York Yankees in 2003 and part of 2004, finishing with records of 7-2 and 8-5 respectively. The Yankees traded him to the White Sox on July 31, 2004, for pitcher Esteban Loaiza. Baseball writer Phil Rogers speculated that Contreras’s performances against the Boston Red Sox angered Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Rogers wrote: “He had allowed 28 runs in 15 1/3 innings over five career starts against Boston, an unforgivable sin in George Steinbrenner’s world.”6

After the trade, Contreras had a 5-4 record for the White Sox. The first half of the 2005 season did not go well for him. He was 4-5 with a 4.26 ERA at the All-Star break. White Sox general manager Ken Williams tried to trade him. A book about the White Sox, The Pride of Chicago, stated: “He was the weakest link on a strong pitching staff. One of Williams’ midseason goals was to pull off a trade that would add a reliever or veteran bat to his lineup. He was willing – even eager – to package Contreras as the bait for any deal.”7

Fortunately for the White Sox, Williams did not find any takers. Contreras emerged as the pitching staff’s ace during the second half of the season. He won his last eight starts. Contreras finished the season 15-7, including 11-2 in the second half.

After the White Sox defeated the Twins, sportswriter Rick Gano wrote: “The second half of the season, Contreras has changed his arm angle and found his control, cutting down his walks and limiting his pitch count.”8

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire complimented Contreras after the game, saying, “He was a little out of whack before, but he’s not out of whack anymore.”9

White Sox manager Guillén said: “Two months ago, everybody wanted to kill this kid and get him out of town because he was pitching horrible, and all of a sudden he’s a Cy Young winner.”10

Guillén told another writer, “Jose had always had the best arm on my team. It’s a matter of time when he can use that. It’s a matter of confidence. This kid won a big game for us and he showed the guys when you have confidence and throw strikes and attack the strike zone, you can win a lot of games.”11

Sportswriter Vinnie Duber declared in a 2020 retrospective that Contreras’s performance in September 2005, including the win over the Twins, greatly helped the White Sox. Duber wrote: “… [H]is biggest contribution was getting the White Sox to the postseason in the first place. From Sept. 7 to Sept. 23, the team went 6-10. But Contreras won all four starts he made during that stretch, preventing a true freefall out of the division race.”12

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball-Almanac.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for box-score, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting game logs, and other material.

Clemson Smith Muñiz, “Jose Contreras: A ChiSox Ambassador with Stories to Tell,” La Vida Baseball, March 27, 2018. https://www.lavidabaseball.com/jose-contreras-cuba-journey/; Andrew Seligman (Associated Press), “Contreras Finally Displaying All His Talents on the Mound,” Pocono Record (Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania), June 25, 2006. https://www.poconorecord.com/story/sports/2006/06/25/contreras-finally-displaying-all-his/53084139007/.

Vinnie Duber, “White Sox 2005 Rewind: Jose Contreras Went ‘Ace Mode’ to Save the Season,” NBC Sports Chicago, May 14, 2020, https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/mlb/chicago-white-sox/white-sox-2005-rewind-jose-contreras-went-ace-mode-to-save-the-season/381271/.

Notes

1 Jay Mariotti, “Gag Line Starting to form on 35th Street,” Chicago Sun-Times, August 21, 2005: 118.

2 Mark Gonzales, “Complete Relief: Contreras Goes Distance for 1st Time, Gives Sox Major Lift,” Chicago Tribune, September 24, 2005: Section 3: 1, 4.

3 Rick Gano (Associated Press), “Contreras to the Rescue – Sox Top Twins,” Ottawa (Illinois) Times, September 24, 2005: B2.

4 Clemson Smith Muñiz, “Jose Contreras: A ChiSox Ambassador with Stories to Tell,” La Vida Baseball, March 27, 2018. https://www.lavidabaseball.com/jose-contreras-cuba-journey/; Andrew Seligman (Associated Press), “Contreras Finally Displaying All His Talents on the Mound,” Pocono Record (Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania), June 25, 2006. https://www.poconorecord.com/story/sports/2006/06/25/contreras-finally-displaying-all-his/53084139007/.

5 Smith Muñiz.

6 Phil Rogers, Say It’s So: The Chicago White Sox’s Magical Season (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2006), 60.

7 Chris De Luca, ed., The Pride of Chicago: The White Sox’s 2005 Championship Season (St. Louis: Sporting News Books, 2005), 29.

8 Gano, “Contreras to the Rescue – Sox Top Twins.”

9 “Twins Can’t Solve Sox, 3-1,” St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times, September 24, 2005: 1D.

10 Gonzales, “Complete Relief”: 4.

11 Gano.

12 Vinnie Duber, “White Sox 2005 Rewind: Jose Contreras Went ‘Ace Mode’ to Save the Season,” NBC Sports Chicago, May 14, 2020, https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/mlb/chicago-white-sox/white-sox-2005-rewind-jose-contreras-went-ace-mode-to-save-the-season/381271/.