White Sox Blast Mariners 5-3

The Big Unit wasn't a big deal for Greg Norton.

Norton, facing Seattle ace Randy Johnson for the first time, homered twice and drove in three runs Thursday night as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Mariners 5-3.

It was Johnson's first loss ever at Comiskey Park and just his third overall against Chicago in 17 total starts.

"The only Norton I've ever heard of is Kenny Norton, and that was the boxer. And he knocked me out tonight," Johnson said.

Norton spent all season trying to carve a place for himself in the White Sox lineup. He started the season at first, but got caught in a numbers game when Wil Cordero was called up from Double-A Birmingham at the end of April.

He hit his first home run of the season on Tuesday, and manager Jerry Manuel decided to start the switch-hitter at third in place of Robin Ventura, who has struggled against the left-handed Johnson (3-2). In 32 at-bats against Johnson, Ventura's had only six hits (.188) and 12 strikeouts.

"Anytime a guy can go on what we thought was his worst side and hit Randy Johnson twice, we've got to get him some more at-bats," Manuel said. "The pitches that he hit were pitches that were down and sliders, kind of his swing pattern. He was seeing them pretty well."

In fact, Norton looked like he was facing any other pitcher. He hit a solo homer to left field in his first at-bat, cutting the Mariners' lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the third.

He struck out swinging in the fourth. But with the score tied at 3 and Mike Cameron on first in the sixth, Norton homered again to drive in the game-winning runs.

"The first one I thought I got lucky," Norton said, laughing. "I don't know if I figured out anything. My bat just hit the ball. Or his ball just hit my bat."

Johnson, who matched his career-high of 19 strikeouts the last time he faced the Sox, struck out seven and gave up seven hits in seven innings.

Tom Fordham (1-0) got his first major-league victory, pitching one-third of an inning after relieving Jason Bere in the sixth. Bill Simas loaded the bases in the ninth before getting Russ Davis on a grounder for his second save.

"It seems like the lesser guys in the lineup -- and I'm not belittling anybody because anybody in the major leagues is capable of hitting the ball hard," Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. "It's not the 3-4-5 hitters. It seems like the guys you normally wouldn't expect are doing the damage."

The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the first on Joey Cora's first homer of the season. They added two more runs in the third. Alex Rdriguez scored on David Segui's sacrifice fly after Chicago center fielder Cameron threw to third instead of the plate, and Edgar Martinez then hit an RBI single.

Chicago rallied with a big inning of its own in the bottom of the third. After Norton's first homer, the Sox hit three straight singles, including Jeff Abbott's hard, line drive to left that scored Chris Snopek. Albert Belle's double scored Ray Durham to tie it 3-3.

"It's a little frustrating. The guys got me three quick runs and it vaporized in a matter of a couple of innings," said Johnson, who's ERA is now 6.19. "I'm really disappointed. The team went out and did what they had to do and I didn't finish my job."

Notes: