Jun 18, 2008 - 1:42 AM
0 shoutsBy Gene Chamberlain PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer
CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Jim Thome took another step up the all-time home run list with his 521st on Tuesday while Jermaine Dye, Joe Crede and Orlando Cabrera also homered to power the Chicago White Sox to a 16-5 interleague victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Thome's three-run blast to right field off reliever Marino Salas during a five-run seventh inning tied him with Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 16th place on the all-time list.
"I remember my dad talking about Ted Williams, what a great hitter he was and just the great things he did," Thome said. "It's something hard to imagine being in a class or in a same group with those men."
The White Sox posted season highs in runs, hits (19) and extra-base hits (11) while matching their season best with four homers. The outburst came just one game after they stranded 11 baserunners in a 5-3 loss to Colorado.
"They didn't swing at any bad pitches at all," Pittsburgh starter Ian Snell said. "It's not the same as the National League, where you can cover the ball over the plate just a little bit and they swing."
"It was a nice night and we scored a lot of runs, and it's even more special when you do that," Thome said. "We picked away, we got some guys on, we hit some home runs. All in all, when you look at it, offensively, we did a lot of good things."
Cabrera had three hits and three RBI while Dye and Crede each added two hits and drove in three runs.
Starter Javier Vazquez (7-5) twice let leads slip away early before coasting to the win. The righthander yielded five runs and five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in six innings.
Vazquez gave up hits in only two of his six innings, but the Pirates bunched together four straight during a four-run second to take a 4-2 lead. Jason Michaels' two-run double, an RBI single by Doug Mientkiewicz and Nate McLouth's sacrifice fly accounted for the runs.
"Besides the second inning, I thought I threw the ball better, but the guys went out there and put on a show hitting the ball," Vazquez said. "As a pitcher, if you give up four in that inning, you have to forget about it. There was a lot left in the game."
After the White Sox moved ahead with a three-run third inning highlighted by Jermaine Dye's leadoff homer, Pittsburgh's Jose Bautista hit his sixth blast with two outs in the fourth to knot the contest at 5-5.
Crede's fifth-inning line drive to left off Snell (3-7) was misplayed by left fielder Michaels into an RBI double that snapped the tie and sparked a stretch of 11 unanswered runs. An inning later, Thome and Swisher each doubled prior to Crede's 15th home run of the season - a two-run shot to left off reliever Franquelis Osoria.
Carlos Quentin was the only White Sox starter without a hit, going 0-for-2 with three walks. However, he drove in the game's final run with a sacrifice fly and also scored twice for Chicago, which won for just the second time in seven games.
"Hopefully, this week is when we explode and swing the bat the way we know we can swing the bat," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "The thing is, it's always more fun when you swing the bats well. I think all those guys put a good at-bat together. The thing is, we have to do it for more than one game."
From the Bleachers
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PITTSBURGH: 5
CHICAGO: 16
Final
Jun 17 11:26 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY CARLOS QUENTIN SCORED ORLANDO CABRERA.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, NONE ON, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 5
CHI WHITE SOX 16 BOTTOM, 8TH
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: J THOME (.221, 2-FOR-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI)
Jun 17 11:19 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
THREE-RUN HOME RUN BY JIM THOME (14) TO RIGHT WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 7TH OFF MARINO SALAS SCORED A.J. PIERZYNSKI AND CARLOS QUENTIN.
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 5, CHI WHITE SOX 15
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: J DYE (.289, 2-FOR-4, HR, 3 RBI)
Jun 17 10:50 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY ORLANDO CABRERA (5) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT
IN THE 7TH OFF MARINO SALAS SCORED DEWAYNE WISE.
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 5, CHI WHITE SOX 12
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: A PIERZYNSKI (.305, 2-FOR-4)
Jun 17 10:42 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY JOE CREDE (15) TO LEFT WITH 2 OUT IN
THE 6TH OFF FRANQUELIS OSORIA SCORED NICK SWISHER.
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 5, CHI WHITE SOX 10
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: A RAMIREZ (.301, 2-FOR-3, 2 RBI)
Jun 17 10:27 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY NICK SWISHER SCORED JIM THOME.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, N SWISHER ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 5
CHI WHITE SOX 8 BOTTOM, 6TH
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: J CREDE (.281, 1-FOR-3, RBI)
Jun 17 10:26 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY ALEXEI RAMIREZ SCORED JOE CREDE.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, A RAMIREZ ON FIRST, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 5
CHI WHITE SOX 7 BOTTOM, 5TH
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: D WISE (.125, 1-FOR-2)
Jun 17 10:01 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY JOE CREDE SCORED NICK SWISHER.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J CREDE ON THIRD, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 5
CHI WHITE SOX 6 BOTTOM, 5TH
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: A RAMIREZ (.296, 1-FOR-2, RBI)
Jun 17 9:59 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JOSE BAUTISTA (6) TO LEFT WITH 2 OUT IN
THE 4TH OFF JAVIER VAZQUEZ.
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 5, CHI WHITE SOX 5
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: L RIVAS (.253, 0-FOR-0, SAC)
Jun 17 9:35 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY ORLANDO CABRERA SCORED ALEXEI RAMIREZ.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, D WISE ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 4
CHI WHITE SOX 5 BOTTOM, 3RD
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: A PIERZYNSKI (.307, 2-FOR-2)
Jun 17 9:27 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY ALEXEI RAMIREZ SCORED NICK SWISHER.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, A RAMIREZ ON FIRST, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 4
CHI WHITE SOX 4 BOTTOM, 3RD
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: D WISE (.000, 0-FOR-1)
Jun 17 9:21 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JERMAINE DYE (12) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 3RD OFF IAN SNELL.
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 4, CHI WHITE SOX 3
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: N SWISHER (.219, 0-FOR-0, BB)
Jun 17 9:14 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY NATE MCLOUTH SCORED DOUG MIENTKIEWICZ.
SITUATION: 4 RUNS IN, J BAUTISTA ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 4
CHI WHITE SOX 2 TOP, 2ND
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: JA WILSON (.288, 0-FOR-1)
Jun 17 8:52 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY DOUG MIENTKIEWICZ SCORED JASON MICHAELS.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, D MIENTKIEWICZ ON FIRST, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 3
CHI WHITE SOX 2 TOP, 2ND
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: J BAUTISTA (.251, 5 HR, 27 RBI)
Jun 17 8:47 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY JASON MICHAELS SCORED RYAN DOUMIT AND ADAM
LAROCHE.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J MICHAELS ON SECOND, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 2
CHI WHITE SOX 2 TOP, 2ND
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: D MIENTKIEWICZ (.232, 1 HR, 10 RBI)
Jun 17 8:45 PM -
ML
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY JERMAINE DYE SCORED A.J. PIERZYNSKI AND CARLOS
QUENTIN.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J DYE ON SECOND, J THOME ON THIRD, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 0
CHI WHITE SOX 2 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: N SWISHER (.219, 8 HR, 24 RBI)
Jun 17 8:26 PM
