Johnson began his dominance in the top of the first as Bob Zupcic popped up to first to start. Carlos Quintana singled to center but Mike Greenwell whiffed. Andre Dawson grounded into a force to end the inning. The Mariners wasted no time scoring against Darwin in the bottom of the first as Omar Vizquel singled to short to begin. Mike Felder flied out to right but Vizquel swiped second on the Ken Griffey Jr strikeout. Pete O'Brien singled home Vizquel but was thrown out at second trying to stretch a double to end the inning with the Mariners up 1-0.
The Sox failed to respond in the top of the second as Ivan Calderon grounded out to short to start. John Valentin popped up to second and Scott Cooper grounded out to short to end the inning. Jay Buhner singled to right to open the bottom of the second before moving to second on the Tino Martinez grounder. Dave Valle popped up to short before Fernando Vina grounded out to first to end the inning.
Bob Melvin grounded back to the mound to start the top of the third but Luis Rivera drew a walk. Zupcic banged into a double play to end the inning. The Mariners iced it in the bottom of the third as Rich Amaral singled to right to begin. Vizquel flied out to right but Amaral swiped second. Felder popped up to first but Griffey Jr launched a 407,000 foot bomb to ice the game. O'Brien flied out to left to end the inning but it was 3-0 Mariners.
Quintana was frozen for strike three to start the top of the fourth before Greenwell whiffed. Dawson flied out to right to end the inning. Buhner flied out to center to start the bottom of the fourth before Martinez lined out to center. Valle walked and Vina singled to center, but Amaral lined out to right to end the inning.
Calderon swung at air to open the top of the fifth before Valentin flied out to right. Cooper flied out to center to end the inning. The Mariners finally knocked out Darwin in the bottom of the fifth. Vizquel flied out to center and Felder popped up to third, but Griffey Jr smashed yet another home run to increase the lead. Sox manager Butch Hobson tripped and fell coming out of the dugout to remove Darwin. He lasted just 4 2/3 innings while allowing 4 runs. Scott Bankhead came in and got O'Brien to ground out to second to end the inning with the Mariners up 4-0.
Melvin tried to start a rally with a base hit to left to start the top of the sixth but Rivera flied out to center. Zupcic flied out to right and Quintana fanned to end the inning. The Mariners wrapped up the scoring in the bottom of the sixth as Buhner singled to start. Martinez singled Buhner to third and Jay scored on the double play by Valle. Vina flied out to right to end the inning but the Mariners were up 5-0.
Johnson turned up the heat in the top of the seventh by punching out both Greenwell and Dawson to start. Calderon singled to center but Valentin flied out to center to end the inning. Ken Ryan came in for the bottom of the seventh and froze Amaral for strike three to start. Vizquel popped up to third but Felder singled to left. Hobson woke up from his nap and ran to the mound to get Ryan out of there, bringing in Tony Fossas ice cold out of the bullpen. Fossas got Griffey Jr to line out to right to end the inning.
Billy Hatcher pinch hit for Cooper to start the top of the eight but grounded out to short. Melvin grounded out to third but Rivera doubled to center. Zupcic popped up to second to end the inning. Ernie Riles took over at third with Henry Cotto pinch hitting for O'Brien to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Fossas struck out Cotto before Buhner grounded out to first. Martinez grounded out to second to end the inning.
Johnson finished his masterpiece in the top of the ninth as Quintana took strike three to start. Greenwell popped up to third and Dawson grounded out to third to end the game. Johnson tossed a complete game 4 hit shoutout to defeat the Sox 5-0.
Jackass of the Night is Danny Darwin. Not that the Sox offense had a chance in hell to hit Johnson, but Darwin didn't help by getting knocked around for 4 runs in 4 2/3 innings to fall to 0-3 on the season.
The Good:
Ivan Calderon was 1 for 3.
Bob Melvin was 1 for 3.
Luis Rivera was 1 for 2 with a walk.
Ken Ryan got the first two outs of the seventh inning.
Tony Fossas tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
The Bad:
Bob Zupcic was 0 for 4.
Mike Greenwell was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Andre Dawson was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
John Valentin was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
Scott Cooper was 0 for 2.
Billy Hatcher flied out as a pinch hitter.
The Ugly:
Carlos Quintana was just 1 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Scott Bankhead allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings.
Honorable Mention:
Ernie Riles played third base in the bottom of the eighth.
Final Thoughts:
Not much you can do when Johnson is that tough. He was on tonight and the Sox lineup without Mo Vaughn and Scott Fletcher didn't do much. Its only one loss but that was a bad effort offensively and by Danny Darwin. He underperformed the last two seasons and now he's 0-3 to start the season. If he doesn't turn it around the Sox should send him packing like they did Jack Clark. The Sox are back in action tomorrow night as Joe Hesketh (2-0) gets the start for the Sox up against Chris Bosio of the Mariners at 10:05 PM Eastern Time at the Kingdome.
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