2008 State of the Sox

August 8: White Sox 5, Red Sox 3

Mark Buehrle's fine return to form appeared to give the White Sox a relatively easy victory in the opener of a key series against the Red Sox.

Then the bad bullpen showed up, and Sox fans had to chew their nails again.

The Sox extended their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the seventh thanks to another well-executed forced rundown.  A.J. Pierzynski hung himself out to dry between first and second on his shot off the right-field wall, which allowed Orlando Cabrera to score all the way from first.

Unfortunately, they would end up needing that run.

After Buehrle exited following a leadoff single, Octavio Dotel got the first batter out... and it went downhill from there.  He walked J.D. Drew, and Dustin Pedroia followed by hitting a hanging curve over the left-field wall to cut the lead to 4-3.  Matt Thornton relieved Dotel and got the job done, getting David Ortiz to ground out to second (or short right), but Ozzie Guillen pulled him for D.J. Carrasco.

Carrasco, the inning's fourth pitcher, began his stint by walking Kevin Youkilis on four pitches (though two of them were close).  He also fell behind Mike Lowell 3-1, but Lowell swung at a high fastball and popped out to Pierzynski, with the ball barely staying in play.

Carlos Quentin's solo homer off Manny Delcarmen gave Bobby Jenks a bit of breathing room, but fortunately the game wouldn't get any closer.  The tying run came to the plate after Jenks plunked Jed Lowrie with a 1-2 curve on the foot, but Jenks would get a flyout and a check-swing groundout from Sean Casey to end the game.

The Sox built a big lead behind the pitching of Buehrle -- who struck out eight over seven innings thanks to a great changeup -- and the play of the left side of the infield.  Cabrera in particular played a part in the first four runs of the game.

He singled Juan Uribe to third, and Pierzynski brought him home with a sac fly for the game's first run.  He struck a big blow two innings later by slashing a double down the right field line to drive in two, then drew that key two-out walk in the seventh.

Uribe was 2-for-2 himself with a sac fly, although he was picked off preceding Cabrera's walk.

Record: 64-50 | Box score | Play-by-play