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Fields, Uribe lead White Sox past Mariners

Aug 11, 2007 - 4:55 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Josh Fields and Juan Uribe teamed up to help dissolve the Seattle Mariners' lead in the American League wild card race.

Fields posted his first career multi-homer game and Uribe snapped a tie with an RBI double in the seventh inning as the Chicago White Sox posted a 5-3 victory over the Mariners on Friday.

With the loss, Seattle (63-50) fell into a tie for the wild card with the New York Yankees (64-51), who rolled to a 6-1 triumph over Cleveland.

Fields gave Chicago a 2-1 lead with a two-out solo blast in the third inning and forged a 3-3 tie with another shot in the sixth. Entering the game, the 24-year-old had just one homer in his previous 12 contests.

"We missed a couple of opportunities and Fields hit a couple of home runs," Mariners manager John McLaren said.

White Sox starter Javier Vazquez (10-6) escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of the seventh, and Uribe sparked a two-run rally in the bottom half to put Chicago ahead.

Jermaine Dye, who opened the scoring with a solo homer in the second, led off the inning with a single. After a lineout by Scott Podsednik, Uribe ripped a double to left field, plating Dye for a 4-3 edge.

Two batters later, Darin Erstad hit a sinking liner to center field. Ichiro Suzuki failed in his attempt to knock down the ball, allowing Uribe to score from first and Erstad to leg out a triple.

"We played the way we thought we were going to play," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We have clutch hitting and clutch pitching right now. Obviously, when you put all those things together, you're going to win more games. That's the way we should have been playing all year."

Vazquez benefited from the uprising, improving to 7-1 in his last eight decisions. The righthander allowed three runs, nine hits and one walk while striking out three.

"They have a great lineup. Looking at them one through nine, they have a really good lineup," Vazquez said. "I'm just fortunate enough to get out of my own jam that I caused. The guys played great defense out there for me."

The jam referred to by Vazquez was created in the seventh, when Kenji Johjima led off with a single and moved to second when Chicago's starter made a throwing error on a grounder by Jose Lopez. Following a sacrifice by Yuniesky Betancourt, Suzuki was walked intentionally to load the bases.

However, the Mariners were unable to cash in on the opportunity as Jose Vidro hit a grounder to third baseman Fields, who threw home to force out Johjima. Vazquez proceeded to induce a forceout by Jose Guillen, escaping the inning unscathed.

Matt Thornton and Mike MacDougal combined for a scoreless eighth and closer Bobby Jenks tossed a perfect ninth for his 33rd save in 38 opportunities. The 1-2-3 inning also extended Jenks' streak of consecutive batters retired to 38, tying the AL record.

"That's a real hard job," Ozzie Guillen said of Jenks' closing role. "Most pitchers either throw a lot of strikes or a lot of balls because they are power pitchers. He is a mix between power and strikes."

Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn (8-9) lasted 6 2/3 innings, surrendering five runs and seven hits. The veteran lefthander, who walked two and struck out six, fell to 0-3 in his last six starts.

"Washburn pitched a nice ballgame," McLaren said. "I thought he threw good. We had a couple of guys who weren't available in the bullpen."