The White Sox probably racked up more hard-hit balls in the fifth inning of tonight's game than they had in some entire series. On the heels of
some crazy run distribution yesterday, they went ahead and scored all 11 of their runs in that frame.
It started when Danny Richar cranked out his sixth homer of the year to cut the Royals' 2-0 lead in half. Three batters later, Josh Fields ripped a double to right to give the Sox a 3-2 lead. Jermaine Dye followed two batters later with a blast over the center field fence.
They weren't done -- A.J. Pierzynski lined a single to right, and after a wild pitch, Juan Uribe drove him home with a double to the left field corner. He then advanced on a wild pitch, and then scored when Danny Richar roped one to the right-center gap. Richar ran hard the entire way and beat the throw with a headfirst slide for a triple. Alex Cintron just missed hitting one out, scoring Richar.
Jerry Owens kept it alive by stroking a single to center, and then Fields displayed his strength wby crushing one over the center field wall to cap off the 11-run blitz. The only player not to contribute? Darin Erstad, who went 0-for-2 in the inning and finished hitless in five at-bats on the night.
Javier Vazquez was just as powerful. He struck out 13 over eight innings, and looked dominant aside from two batters in the second inning, when Ross Gload doubled and Alex Gordon drove Gload and himself home with his 15th homer. He stranded David DeJesus on third with a triple in the bottom of the fifth and looked just about untouchable the rest of the way. He finished the game retiring the last seven batters he faced, and was hitting 94 m.p.h. with his fastball in the eighth inning.
Record: 65-85 |
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