Down to their last out with nobody on, the Sox showed some uncharacteristic fight and managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Of course, it also helps that the Royals are experts at executing the opposite.
After Joakim Soria struck out Ryan Sweeney looking, it appeared that the toughest part of his task was over. He managed to retire Sweeney, who reached in all three of his first three plate appearances, and coming up was Darin Erstad, hitless in his last 14 at-bats.
Sure enough, Erstad kept the inning alive with a single, and then Juan Uribe, the other Sox who can hit, doubled off the very top of the wall in right-center to tie up the game.
The Sox would win it in the next inning, when Paul Konerko led off with a walk, and a pinch-running Luis Terrero advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Jermaine Dye's single. Dye had two hits, and came around to score with his other single.
Up until that point, the Sox showed what yesterday would've looked like had Jon Garland not been so sharp. Mark Buehrle, trying for his 100th career win, pitched decently aside from a rough fourth inning, when he gave up four runs on four hits, capped by John Buck's two-run homer.
The Royals did a nice job of adjusting to Buehrle, who went through the order the first time with relative ease. The only jam before that point came in the first when Buehrle picked off Esteban German, but Paul Konerko's throw hit German in the back to give him a second life. He ended the inning stranding runners on the corners.
The White Sox offense, on the other hand, scored their first two runs in the same fashion as yesterday -- a solo homer by Uribe, and the other via a Royals error. Darin Erstad even hit a double-play ball with the bases loaded, but this time, the Royals turned it.
Sweeney broke the streak when he hit his first major-league homer to narrow it to 4-3.
Ozzie Guillen went matchup crazy, throwing six relievers at the Royals, but all the moves worked. Mike MacDougal provided the biggest scare when he threw two straight pitches to the backstop to put a runner on third with less than two outs, but got a grounder and a strikeout to keep the game tied.
Record: 18-15 |
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