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Crede, Mackowiak lead White Sox past Rangers

Apr 20, 2007 - 5:11 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- While not as thrilling as their previous win, the Chicago White Sox still gave their fans plenty to keep them interested.

Joe Crede stroked a go-ahead single in the eighth inning and Rob Mackowiak followed with a two-run homer as the White Sox posted a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.

One night after Mark Buehrle's historic no-hitter, the White Sox were locked in a 3-3 tie. Texas reliever Scott Feldman (1-1) worked out of a bases-loaded seventh-inning jam by striking out Paul Konerko, but he was not up to the task in the eighth.

"As a team, we were better in the dugout (because of the no-hitter)," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen. "We had more life, more guys rooting for each other, and have more confidence about them."

Jermaine Dye led off with a double to right-center field. After A.J. Pierzynski lined out to center field, Crede singled to center, plating Dye from second base.

"Once I got two strikes, I was just thinking up the middle for a base hit," Crede said. "Not trying to do to much, which I tend to do sometimes in certain situations.

"There was a lot of energy tonight, on the field and in the clubhouse and in the dugout, and I think that all stemmed from last night's game.

Mackowiak followed by drilling a ball deep into the right field seats - his first home run this season - for a 6-3 lead.

Matt Thornton (1-1) worked a scoreless eighth inning for the win and Bobby Jenks worked around a ninth-inning run for his fourth save while handing the Rangers a fourth loss in five games.

"These guys aren't catching any breaks," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "We're going to be fine. Pretty soon we have to break out of this. We're not going to panic. We're going to keep grinding and wait for it to turn."

Jim Thome, who homered twice on Wednesday, walked a career-high five times for Chicago.

"Thome is amazing," Guillen said. "He's got good eyes, and he knows where the strike zone is. I want him to swing the bat, though. Because I won't do anything with him on the bases. He is not that fast."

Rangers designated hitter Sammy Sosa opened the scoring with the 582nd homer of his career and fourth this season in the second off Javier Vazquez.

"It's not how you start. It's how you finish," Sosa said. "Every player needs to make an adjustment, the more you do that the more quickly you're gonna find yourself. Especially myself, I'm always trying to put pieces together. I have to continue. I'm never satisfied."

Pierzynski trumped his shot with a three-run blast - his first in 2007 - in the fourth off Texas starter Vincente Padilla for a 3-1 edge.

Michael Young doubled in a run off Vazquez in the sixth and Ian Kinsler delivered a sacrifice fly against Mike MacDougal in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3. Sosa and Hank Blalock doubled off Vazquez to start the inning, but Sosa stopped at third base on Blalock's bloop to left field.

Vazquez allowed three runs and four hits in six-plus innings.

Padilla allowed three runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings but walked six.