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Pierzynski singles in 10th, Chisox win 7th in row

Sep 6, 2010 - 9:50 PM DETROIT(AP) -- The Chicago White Sox keep finding ways to win.

A.J. Pierzynski hit a go-ahead single in the 10th inning and finished with three RBIs on Monday, and Chicago beat the Detroit Tigers 5-4 for their seventh straight win.

The White Sox are second in the A.L. Central, 3 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins.

"Keep battling, not giving away at-bats. Nobody is panicking," Pierzynski said.

Chris Sale (1-1) earned his first major league victory, finishing with 2 2-3 innings of scoreless relief.

"Just going out there and trying to throw the ball well every time I get into a game," said Sale, who has an 0.66 ERA in 12 appearances only three months off the Florida Gulf Coast campus.

"Very, very pleasant surprise," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen. "Very, very nice."

Jose Valverde (2-4) took the loss.

Don Kelly homered and drove in three runs for Detroit.

"It was a real good ballgame. We just didn't execute a couple pitches and we got burnt," Tigers' manager Jim Leyland said.

Manny Ramirez led off the 10th with a single and went to second when Ryan Raburn stumbled and booted the ball in left. Alejandro De Aza ran for Ramirez, and pinch-hitter Alex Rios hit a single one out later to send De Aza to third. Pierzynski followed with a looper into short left field on a 1-2 pitch to bring in De Aza and give the White Sox the lead.

"We're just going in there (each at-bat) to fight and see what happens," said Pierzynski, who was 2 for 5 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Alexei Ramirez's two-out single in the eighth had tied the game at 4 for the White Sox.

Detroit starter Max Scherzer was replaced by Phil Coke after Andruw Jones' one-out single in the eighth. Coke got Pierzynski to fly out to the warning track in right and was replaced by Ryan Perry. Brent Lillibridge, running for Jones, stole second and Ramirez sent a liner into left-center to tie the game.

"Definitely made a mistake to Ramirez, which he capitalized on," Perry said.

The Tigers' Brandon Inge hit a drive down the left-field line and into the stands with two outs and one on in the eighth that was originally called a home run. The call was overruled when replay clearly showed the ball was foul.

"It started so far fair as soon as it came off and then it started hooking early. Then I just had a feeling. You can kind of tell," Inge said. "It didn't quite get there. I knew it was gone. I knew it had the distance, just didn't have the direction."

Detroit took a 2-0 lead when the first three batters got hits, but Chicago tied it in the second on Pierzynski's bases-loaded single.

The White Sox went ahead 3-2 in the fourth on Pierre's two out, run-scoring single. Chicago nearly added another run, but Tigers' right fielder Brennan Boesch threw Mark Kotsay out at the plate as he tried to score from second on Omar Vizquel's single.

Miguel Cabrera led off with a single and Kelly drove Edwin Jackson's next pitch into the right-field stands for his sixth home run, giving Detroit a 4-3 lead.

Scherzer allowed four runs on nine hits in 7 1-3 innings, walking two and striking out six.

Edwin Jackson gave up four runs on nine hits in 7 1-3 innings, walking one and striking out six.

NOTES: Vizquel passed Rafael Palmeiro for most games by a player born outside the United States (2,832), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. ... Chicago 1B Paul Konerko sat out because of a stiff back. ... The Rev. Jesse Jackson was in attendance. ... Kelly made two outstanding catches in LF. He robbed Kotsay of a hit with a diving catch to his left with two on and none out in the second, and victimized Vizquel with his back to the diamond and running toward the left-field foul pole as he led off the third.