Monday, August 18, 2008 - Posts

August 18: White Sox 13, Mariners 5

Mark Buehrle found himself in an early hole after a strange defensive gaffe, even by Sox-defense-behind-Buehrle standards.  Buehrle should've been out of the inning after Adrian Beltre hit a comebacker with runners on first and second and one out.

Buehrle spun, fired to second where Alexei Ramirez caught it ... 10 feet behind the bag.  Ramirez and Orlando Cabrera confused each other, and nobody ended up covering the bag.  The throw sailed over second base and into Ramirez's mitt, where he was able to throw to first to get Beltre by a step for two outs.

But Buehrle, as he is wont to do, allowed both runs to score and then some.  The single came on a decent pitch that Jose Lopez muscled out to left, but Wladimir Balentien doubled was belted, and the Mariners held a 3-0 lead before the Sox came to the plate.

The game looked much brighter from that point on.  After Paul Konerko scored Jermaine Dye with a single that barely got past Yuniesky Betancourt, Nick Swisher followed with a two-run shot to tie the game after two.

The Mariners grabbed the lead when three cheap singles pushed one run across, but Buehrle worked out of a first-and-third situation with nobody out with a strikout,a lineout an a weak popout to keep it a one-run game.

The Sox pushed it out of reach thereafter.  Orlando Cabrera started it with a two-run homer after Juan Uribe's first walk of the game (that's correct), and the next seven Sox reached, capped by a Ramirez RBI single that extended the lead to 9-4.

Ramirez then gave the Sox double-figures in runs for the second straight game with a three-run shot.

Record: 71-53 | Box score | Play-by-play