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Vazquez, Owens lift White Sox past Twins

Sep 22, 2007 - 8:10 PM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - Javier Vazquez and Jerry Owens proved to be quite the 1-2 punch.

Vazquez pitched seven dominant innings and Owens had a career-high five hits as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins, 8-3, on Saturday.

Vazquez (14-8) allowed only a single and a pair of walks through five innings before giving up a pair of hits in the sixth, including a two-run homer to Jason Kubel.

Overall, Vazquez gave up two runs and five hits, walking two and striking out 11. In beating Kansas City on Monday, Vazquez struck out 13.

"He's thrown the ball good all year long for us," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He's the one we can really count on. He's been throwing like that for a while. Unfortunately, he could of won more games. We just didn't play good enough for him to win more games."

Vazquez won his third consecutive start and improved to 3-0 in five outings against the Twins this year. He allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings, bouncing back from his last start against Minnesota on September 7 when he gave up four runs on 11 hits in six innings. In his three starts since, Vazquez has a 2.11 ERA with 33 strikeouts. He has at least eight strikeouts in four straight contests and has fanned 57 hitters in his last 39 1/3 innings over six starts.

Vazquez has 204 strikeouts this season, marking the third time he's reached the 200 milestone and the first time he's done so since 2003 with Montreal.

"Strikeouts is a good number on the back of your card I guess, but its not indicative of how you pitch," Vazquez said. "A lot of people don't strike out a lot of hitters and have good seasons."

Owens, who tied a career high with three RBI, broke the game open with his two-RBI single in the fourth inning and the White Sox got home runs from Jim Thome and Darin Erstad for their fifth win in seven games and sixth in their last seven tries against Minnesota.

Chicago got to Twins starter Scott Baker (9-9) early, giving the White Sox's wins leader a cushion for most of the contest.

Erstad and A.J. Pierzynski led off the second inning with singles, and Erstad scored on Juan Uribe's sacrifice fly. Danny Richar lined a single off Baker's pitching hand and Andy Gonzalez followed with a four-pitch walk. Owens then hit his second of five singles in the contest to score Pierzynski and Richar before Josh Fields grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Baker, who was looked at by Twins coaches and training staff for several minutes after being hit, threw a handful of warm-up pitches before opting to stay in the game. However, he was replaced by Boof Bonser to start the third inning.

Baker was unavailable for comment after the game because he needed to catch a flight back to his home in Louisiana to attend to a family emergency. Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire wouldn't elaborate further on the matter, but said Baker was removed from the game as a precaution for his hand, not because of the family issues.

"His hand is OK," Gardenhire said. "They didn't X-ray it. He took a pretty good whack out there, it was pretty numb. He wanted to continue pitching, he still had his range of motion. But once we saw him get through that inning and then come into the dugout, the fear was he would start trying to do something different and hurt himself."

Bonser didn't fare any better, as he was greeted by Thome's 504th career home run to start the frame and gave up a run in each of the next three innings before being replaced after failing to record an our four batters into the sixth. Bonser was ultimately charged with five runs and eight hits in three-plus innings in his first careerrelief appearance.

Richar tripled and scored in the fourth inning on another Owens single, and Erstad hit a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning.

Owens singled, Fields walked, and Thome singled home Owens to chase Bonser in the sixth. Julio DePaula walked Paul Konerko to load the bases and Erstad drove home Fields with a ground ball to put Chicago up 8-0.

Fields said after the game he couldn't recall ever having a five-hit performance.

"It's kind of like an audition," Owens said. "I'm trying to make a name for myself to have a spot on this team next year and be able to contribute. By no means have I thrown in the towel. I still have 30 at-bats left and I'll take each one like it's my last."

Kubel hit his two-run shot to end the shutout in the sixth inning, his 13th home run this season. Vazquez gave up a pair of hits in the seventh inning thanks to miscommunication between Fields and Uribe on a high fly ball and a misjudgment by Fields on another fly ball, but Fields threw out Brian Buscher at third after his misplay and Vazquez struck out Nick Punto to escape the inning unscathed.

After Vazquez departed, Boone Logan finished up by working the final two innings.