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Vazquez pitches White Sox past Twins

Jul 8, 2007 - 10:09 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The series ended much better than it began for the Chicago White Sox.

Javier Vazquez pitched a complete game for the second consecutive start and Rob Mackowiak, Jim Thome and Paul Konerko homered in a five-run third inning as the White Sox topped the Minnesota Twins, 6-3, on Sunday.

A.J. Pierzynski and Tadahito Iguchi also drove in runs for the White Sox, who won the final two games of this series after being swept in a doubleheader Friday.

"I think I've been pretty consistent all year," Vazquez said. "It's awesome to throw a complete game. As a pitcher, it's what you work for."

Vazquez (6-5) won for the third time in four starts after allowing three runs, eight hits and no walks while striking out eight en route to his 22nd career complete game. He allowed one run during a 5-1 complete-game victory against the Baltimore Orioles in his last outing on Tuesday.

"(Vazquez) was outstanding, a great job," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I think it was one of his best performances. Javy gets better and better through the year. He does a tremendous job for us."

The White Sox gave Vazquez a comfortable cushion to work with after reaching Minnesota starter Carlos Silva (6-10) for a five-spot in the third.

Mackowiak led off the inning with his fifth home run of the season and Luis Terrero followed with a double. Silva recorded two outs before allowing an RBI single to Iguchi.

Thome kept the inning alive by depositing the first pitch he saw over the right-center field wall for his 14th blast of the season. Konerko then punctuated the inning with his 18th homer of the year.

"We've started to swing the bats here well the last 10 to 12 days. It's been good," Thome said. "We played well and today was a good day. We're due to have a good streak."

The White Sox have hit 22 home runs in their last 14 games and have won 10 of 15.

"Over the last two weeks, we've played pretty good baseball," Guillen said. "Hopefully we carry that over to the second half and make a run for this."

Silva allowed six runs - five earned - and 10 hits in five innings. The righthander, who did not walk a batter and struck out one, has allowed 17 runs in his last three starts - a span of 17 1/3 innings.

"This was a disappointing loss," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We had a chance to win the series and failed to do so. We had a few opportunities early, but Vazquez was very good. We need to get better in the second half."

Justin Morneau hit his 24th home run of the season and drove in two runs for the Twins.

White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buehrle, a subject of recent trade rumors, was seen shaking hands and hugging teammates in the dugout during the eighth inning of the game. After the game, the team announced that the lefthander has signed a four-year extension.

"I'm happy with the deal, and hopefully they are too," Buehrle said. "It's a definite relief. I hope I didn't take anything away from guys going out there and concentrating on playing."

"Everyone's thrilled about Mark - it's given the team a lift," Konerko said. "We haven't had a ton to smile about the first half, but today was a great day."